Randoms Acts of Kindness

The UWG Counseling Center is hosting their annual on campus event, Random Acts of Kindness (RAK), Nov. 13-17. The purpose of this event is to promote student embodiment and encouragement towards one another.

RAK contains a new campaign focus each year; this year being “Kindness Matters”. The counseling center is hoping to collaborate with other local departments to help spread awareness to others and contribute to the event.

RAK is campaigned through various social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and various locations on campus. This helps relay the message to online students, alumni and community partners. This week will consist of several different forms of social interaction and activities for students to participate in.

Monday is Roommate/Neighbor day. The idea is for each student to do a chore they typically would not do. Tuesday is Professor/Advisor/Counselor day. This act of kindness suggests that students write a nice email or leave an appreciation sign on their advisor’s door. Wednesday is Service Worker day which encourages each student to tell their supervisor how great their service was. Thursday is Classmate/Coworker appreciation. Appreciation can simply be represented by offering a classmate a pen or telling a coworker they did a good job. Friday is the last day of RAK and is referred to as Random Person day. Any small deed such as holding a door open for someone or offering to carry something for a peer is highly encouraged.

“These kinds of activities allow our students to be more interactive with others and promote kindness on the West Georgia campus,” said Lisa Adams, director of counseling and accessibility. “This movement is therapeutic for students currently undergoing stress from school, heading home to family, and upcoming finals.”

The counseling center wants to embody students with multiple ways to cope during times of doubt and stress throughout their final weeks of the semester. Counselors and other staff members plan to use different forms of communication to spread the word about RAK week.

“We will be working with peer mentors to pass out themed bracelets the first couple days of the week,” said Melissa Gomez, outreach graduate assistant at the counseling center. “We do this because word of mouth is always one of the most effective ways to spread information.”

Random Acts of Kindness is a great opportunity for students and faculty members to relieve stress right before the end of the fall semester.