School & Community Nationwide Initiative
Unite your school or community organization with an interactive CommUNITY Board. Select wall space in your school or organization to design a CommUNITY Board that creates unity through community both locally and nationally.
Every two months, Herren Project will share a new theme for the CommUNITY Board to design at your school or organization. Our goal is to bring schools and communities together in collaboration and to engage each other in a community-building activity to strengthen connectedness among peers in schools and communities nationwide.
Plan ahead, gather supplies, and embrace the shared contributions of those in your school and community. Even better, know that you are part of something even bigger – a community nationwide! These CommUNITY Boards are meant to be an uplifting and inspirational source of purpose and belonging for the community. Encourage those in your community to participate in this initiative to support, inspire and empower one another!
Unite, share, learn, and interact nationwide by celebrating what makes each one of our communities unique and strong. Showcase your CommUNITY Boards and post nationwide on social media and in our private School & Communities Facebook group by tagging @herrenproject and using the hashtag #commUNITYboard. We might even feature your CommUNITY Board in an upcoming edition of the School and Community Newsletter!
If you are not a member of our School & Communities Facebook group, click here to join.
SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER – SCHOOL YEAR BUCKET LIST
Let’s start the year off right and share our bucket lists for the next few months! This bucket list will be a list of things you hope to accomplish over the next school year. Whether it be making a team, joining a club, maintaining a certain GPA or plans to travel, your goals and dreams are your own to share.
Design: The outline for the board could include cut-outs of large bucket shapes with small slips of paper and writing utensils left out for folks to write their own goals for the year and then add them to the buckets. Once you have completed the design of your bucket list board, invite those in your community to add to it!
NOVEMBER & DECEMBER – GRATITUDE JAR
With the onset of the holidays, we can begin to feel bogged down and lose track of what is truly important. We encourage you to take a moment to practice gratitude and help us fill the gratitude jars. Please reflect on what you are grateful for, write it down on the sticky notes provided and add them to the board. We are grateful for your additions!
Design: Choose the color you are going to use for the backdrop of the bulletin board and then draw large jar shapes. You will want the jars to be large enough for many people to add to them. Leave out colorful sticky notes and writing utensils for folks to use. Encourage them to write what they are grateful for on sticky notes and then add them to the jars.
JANUARY & FEBRUARY – THIS IS YOUR YEAR TO…
The start of a new year gives us all the chance to continue to write our story or start a whole new book. We encourage you to share what you hope to achieve this year. Take a slip of paper, share your goals and dreams, and add them to our board. We cannot wait to witness you all accomplish your dreams!
Design: Title of the bulletin board (This is Your Year To…) will go in the center of the board. Slips of paper and pens will be left to allow folks to write down what they believe they will accomplish or hope to in the new year.
MARCH & APRIL – THE WELLNESS WHEEL
As we honor our own well-being and celebrate Wellness Week With Herren, we want to take a moment to share all of the areas of wellness that we need to tend to in order to feel healthy in mind, body and soul. Please take whatever you feel would help you from the wellness wheel and add to it if you have tips to share. Our collective wellness will only improve the overall happiness and success of our community!
Design: This will cover all areas of wellness: Emotional, physical, intellectual, spiritual, occupational, social. (Please see attached example) Use a variety of colorful paper to create a wheel shape that is cut into sections like a pie. Label each section with one of the areas of wellness shown above and feel free to add more of your own. In each section, add notes written on slips of paper that have ideas for how we can manage our wellness for each area. For example, emotional wellness-talk with a trusted friend or adult when feeling down; Physical-choose a way to move your body that you enjoy, and so on. Leave out extra slips of paper for others to add their own ideas to the wellness wheel.
MAY & JUNE – KINDNESS LIBRARY: TAKE WHAT YOU NEED/GIVE WHAT YOU CAN
Kindness to ourselves and to others has been shown to boost self-esteem, encourage a growth mindset, spread compassion, deepen friendships, and improve our overall wellbeing. Merriam Webster defines kindness as, “the quality of being friendly, generous and considerate.” It may come naturally for us to be kind to others, but often we see folks struggle to be kind to themselves. This bulletin board will allow those in your community to give kindness to others, while taking something they might need to be more kind to themselves. These notes can be words of affirmation, ideas for self-care, contact information for those willing to listen to someone in need or a way to treat yourself to something you enjoy. Be creative and let kindness flow!
Design: Choose what colors you will use for the background. Once you have done this, divide the board in half with the title, Kindness Library in the center of the board. Label one half, Take What You Need and the other half, Give What You can. Start the board by leaving notes on either side of the board, and then invite those in your community to do the same. Leave out slips of colorful paper and a variety of writing utensils. These notes can be words of affirmation, ideas for self-care, contact information for those willing to listen to someone in need, or a way to treat yourself with something you enjoy.
Being part of a thriving community is important to our health and well-being. We hope this initiative will bring meaningful unity to schools and communities. Together, we can make a positive difference locally and beyond.
Herren Project Clubs is a school-based, evidence-informed prevention and wellness program designed by prevention specialists, clinicians, and school counselors to empower students to live substance-free while creating a peer network in schools. Its goal is to provide tools to strengthen social-emotional learning and coping skills to make healthy choices and live fulfilling lives.
Learn more about Herren Project Clubs and register to start a club at your school.
