Students at Hicksville Middle School celebrated Start with Hello Week on Sept. 19-23. The three components of the Start with Hello program are See Someone Alone, Reach Out and Help, and Start with Hello.
Through this program, the students engaged in skills they need to continue a school culture of inclusion and connectedness. This program teaches students how they can help their peers in fun, simple and meaningful ways.
Some of the small but powerful actions that students took part in throughout the week included wearing decorated name tags and introducing themselves to someone new or someone they didn’t know. Students also created ribbons out of green construction paper and displayed them outside of classrooms. To close the week, students participated in mix and mingle opportunities, as well as wore green to show their support of the program.
Start With Hello is an important social and emotional learning program to reintroduce students to the power of connecting and helping one another. It is run through Sandy Hook Promise, a non-profit organization founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012.
Hicksville Middle School students worked together to create paper ribbons to show their support for Start with Hello.
Creative wall decorations and balloons displayed around Hicksville Middle School as reminders to Start with Hello.