Covington Elementary students wear orange during last year’s Unity Day and pledge to be bully free.
Unity Day is celebrated nationwide as a way for people to come together and show that bullying should never be a part of a student’s childhood. At District 123, the message of uniting for kindness, courage, and inclusion is extended for a whole week.
Several years ago, Sward Elementary School started to celebrate Unity Day, and the district’s Classroom Communities team expanded it to each school as an entire week full of spirit days, activities, and assemblies.
Throughout the past few years, students participated in activities where they made kindness pledges to their peers, danced away bullying, and created orange classroom decorations — orange is the signature color for bullying awareness.
Students and staff can join forces this year in spreading the word through participating in spirit week and using #d123unites23 on social media to show how they’re encouraging kindness and acceptance.
“Students get excited over spirit week and wearing different clothes,” Shannon Mural, Classroom Communities Lead, said. “They become more aware of how they treat other students and staff … and we’re continuing to build school and classroom communities through the intentional focus on kindness.”
Over 300 Unity Week T-shirts were ordered and are encouraged to be worn throughout the week, especially on “Wear Orange Wednesday.”
Unity Week is Oct. 16-20, and Wednesday, Oct. 18 is the official Unity Day where everyone will pledge to be bully-free.