The BSM community has a lot to be thankful for, one of these being the people who fill the building every day. Recently, the administration has introduced the month of gratitude, where students and staff get to share why they are thankful for other individuals.
During COVID, the BSM community didn’t get to be around each other every day in person, so when coming back to school, the administration wanted to find a way to make the people at BSM feel connected. “Two years ago, while we were trying to come out of the pandemic, we talked about ideas of how we can bring some joy into the hallways. This is where the idea came from because one of the best ways to do that is just to tell people how important they are to you… we started asking in November for people to say who they are thankful for, and it’s kind of grown from there,” senior high principal Stephanie Nitchals said.
BSM’s month of gratitude has become something students and staff look forward to. BSM does a great job of making it an easy process to share your appreciation by sending out a Google form for students and staff to fill out. “I think it’s a nice gesture to have people stop and think about what is good in their lives and the people who have made a nice, positive, warm, comforting impact on their lives. I don’t think we do that very often, so I think that [the Google form] is a nice deliberate way to recognize that and incentivize people to share their gratitude,” senior high English teacher Anne Marie Dominguez said.
I think it’s a nice gesture to have people stop and think about what is good in their lives and the people who have made a nice, positive, warm, comforting impact on their lives. I don’t think we do that very often, so I think that [the Google form] is a nice deliberate way to recognize that and incentivize people to share their gratitude.”
— Anne Marie Dominguez
Not very often do students get to share their gratitude with their teacher, especially in such a heartfelt way, making it a fun and special thing for both students and staff. “I nominated Profe Nava. I have never personally had her as a teacher before, but you can just tell she loves being at BSM, that she enjoys her job, and you can tell the impact that she has had on students. I have heard nothing but good things about her and I always see her smiling through the hallway and saying ‘hi’ to everyone,” junior Eva Rahn said.
Another way the community has shown its gratefulness for others is through handwritten notes. Some would argue that this is even more sentimental and special than the Google form, where your photo goes up on screens around the school. “It is very flattering and kind, a very lovely thing to see. To me, it’s just like yay there is one person I made an impact on. I do have to say as much as the Google form is nice, I got a handwritten letter from a student that almost brought me to tears. So although it’s nice to have your photo flashed up on the screen for 20 seconds, it is the handwritten stuff that actually means a little more to me. I find it more touching, but overall everything is great and lovely,” Dominguez said.
The impact the month of gratitude has had on the community is definitely notable as it gives people time to share how they feel without necessarily saying it. “It’s nice to see that many teachers around the school have made an impact on students and that the students noticed it. I feel it brings the community together,” Rahn said.