Rib Lake schools celebrate ‘A day without hate’

EMILY GOJMERAC

REPORTER

The Rib Lake School District took the “Be Kind” slogan to new heights on Friday afternoon when the entire district came together to celebrate A Day Without Hate campaign.

High school special education teacher Dan Winkler coordinated the event. Being that it was his first year with the district, he wanted to see what it would be like to start this program in Rib Lake.

“The response has been unbelievable,” Winkler said “I brought this idea from the district I was with last year from Colorado and I believe it was a huge success throughout the district.”

Day Without Hate is a student led nationwide organization that promotes nonviolence, unity, and respect in our schools. After the shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007, students at Standley Lake High School, in Westminster Colorado asked their classmates to wear white in order to show a commitment and trust in each other to make their school a safer place. The day was an overwhelming success.

Since then, students across Colorado and the nation have taken this incredibly positive day to their communities to say that violence or hate will not be tolerated.

When it came to how Rib Lake celebrated this day, they all wore matching white t-shirts to show their unification. The high school had a pep rally which included teamwork games, such as chariot races, animal call game [where the student has to call their blindfolded partner via an animal sound], tug of war, hulahoop relay, hungry hungry hippos [where the student had to collect as many nerf balls in a basket while their partner pushes them on a rolling cart], and last but not least, the game of birdie on a perch, which is a game of musical chairs, without the chairs. Once the music stops, the student has to catch their partner in their arms after they have just walked in two circles going in different directions.

The highlight of the entire day was when the entire district, went out onto the football field and made a human tunnel. Every student from the high school, middle school, and elementary, along with the staff completed the human tunnel.

After the human tunnel was complete and all the students and some staff went through it, the high school band performed and choir performed Best Day of My Life originally sung by the group American Authors.

To top off the day, everyone, even some community members came out to join in on the group dance. Everyone had a great time and really promoted the feeling of togetherness.