Oakdale High School has many new clubs this school year; one of the new clubs that has already brought a lot of positivity within the community and in school is the Kindness Club. This club brings people together within the school through community service, helping others and trying to spread kindness. 

Students in this club do a lot of projects that benefit the school and the community as well. The teacher who created this club, Mrs. Danielle Rinker, shared a lot of information about how she was inspired to make this club and how it brings students together.

Rinker is very excited for what’s going to happen with the club this year! Rinker shared, “I believe that if we all spent more time during our day thinking of others then the world would be a more harmonious place”. 

Rinker also spoke on the thing she is most excited about with this club: “I love that this club has positive vibes and an inclusive mindset, so I’m excited to see how students continue to share this positivity”. 

This is her first year as a teacher here at Oakdale. She stated, “I started this club last year as an instructional assistant”.

Rinker explains her inspiration for the club: “I had a lot of students who wanted to get to know each other better and I told them they should make a club. I suggested they make a kindness club because my kids were involved in one at their school when they were younger”. 

Rinker shared, “With being a new teacher this year and having the heavy workload of being a teacher, I had two students take over the majority of this club”. 

This club is important to the founders: Junior Emily Hartz and Junior Pragna Yalamanchili. “It has a basic principle of helping the community and bringing positivity back into the school,” voiced Hartz.

Yalamanchili says, “we hope that this club can make the world a better place even if it isn’t successful, especially today because there is so much toxicity in the world”. 

Yalamanchili spoke on an activity/project she and Hartz are most excited about doing in the club this year: “We are still in the planning stage, but the most fun part is going to be seeing the final projects, making a schoolwide thrift store and donating profits to the veterans fund.”

Hartz shared, “I am very excited to see what students come up with for our thrift store project,”

Overall, the Kindness Club seems like an all around great club to join here at Oakdale!