Kindness. It is defined as the quality of being friendly, generous and considerate. Some believe that it has died out or no longer exists in our world. But there is a club that is dedicated to spreading kindness: the We Dine Together (W.D.T.) club.

The club was started by three people: Aiden Lenox, ‘21, Audrey Lenox ‘23 and Intervention Specialist Anna Tewell.

They want to express that showing and spreading kindness to others will help build a sense of community here at WHHS.
Clubs at WHHS require a Faculty Advisor, which Tewell serves as for W.D.T..

“It is a club that’s trying to put forth more effort in school to make everyone feel included and to promote kindness in ways that are more unique and unexpected during the school day,” Tewell said.

In the future Tewell wants more students to join the club and to help spread the club’s message in more places. She also wants to spread the message and the framework of the club to other schools in the district to get “CPS more involved in kindness awareness and bullying prevention.”

The club founder, Aiden Lenox, spoke to the District Board of Education and gained the interest of some of CPS’s administration members.
They are “hoping to find innovative ways to combat bullying and hatred in the schools. We are hoping to get more people involved here at Walnut so that we can spread it to other schools,” Aiden said.

He expressed that he wanted to spread a feeling of inclusiveness throughout the school.

He explained that during lunch in elementary school he felt isolated and lonely. He also said “that’s not the case for me today, but that’s still the case for a vast number of students here at Walnut.” He wants people to take away from this that all students are welcomed and loved; whether or not they feel like they are loved, they are.

He also hopes the club will help spread kindness and stop bullying. Beyond stopping bullying, he wants to make sure that people who are being bullied know that they are accepted.

Aiden saw that there was a problem and it needed a solution. He believes W.D.T. is that solution. He said that bullying and unkind words and actions are apparent all over WHHS. He said that no one should have to feel that kind of belittlement and that is one of the reasons that he instituted the club at WHHS. But not everything that is great can be done alone.

Every good thing starts somewhere and with someone, but great things start somewhere and with the help of someone else. And in this case that someone else is Audrey. Audrey is not only Aiden’s younger sister but also one of the two eighth grade lunch captains.

Audrey not only cares about the club but she wants it to be able to expand for more students to know about it as well.

She describes the club as “creating a strong community in Walnut Hills by making people feel more welcome.” Typical club meetings for Audrey look like a gathering of club members in the forum socializing and strategizing new ways to make the school feel more like a community.

W.D.T. is pushing for more kindness and community with their “Kind is the New Cool” campaign.

Kind is the New Cool is a movement that W.D.T. wants to start to not only prevent bullying, but to take it a step further by spreading kindness to each other and the people that they encounter. One way W.D.T. aimed to accomplish this was by doing a Kindness Awareness Week.

W.D.T.’s Kindness Awareness Week was the week of April 15-19.

Note: Alonzo Montgomery is an active member of W.D.T. as well as a Chatterbox club contributor.