Summer is approaching, but students must get through a final slew of end-of-year projects and responsibilities first. These last strides of the school year are when students could use intentional support and grounding from their community.
With this in mind, Poolesville High School’s Hero Club — combined with Falcon Minds Matter (FMM) — in Poolesville, Maryland, held a We Belong Week for students to destress and encourage frequent acts of kindness toward themselves and others. The club incorporated successful activities from previous school years and collaborated with other clubs to make one of our signature campaigns their own.
Ted Doto and Charlie Gleason, now 11th-grade student leaders, joined the club as freshmen. Doto said that Melissa Nagy, his school counselor and an FMM club sponsor, inspired him to join the club.
“She talked so highly of it, and when I joined, it was this good vibe from all the people in the club,” Doto said.
When Doto suggested hosting the We Belong Week campaign this spring, the club teamed up with the Hero Club Planning Committee. Nagy shared that Hero Club began as a way for high school students to mentor middle schoolers in the area. The program was based on principles like respect, tolerance, and anti-bullying. Together, the group hosted a week full of creativity, cheer, and even some friendly competition.
“I saw that [students] looking out for each other is more than what we can do as the staff or as parents, because we’re not in all of those extra little places,” she said. “Student to student makes much more of an impact than adult to student.”
The club opened the week by painting kindness rocks on Monday and creating a paper “chain” of things that made students feel they belonged. Tuesday was for bracelet making and writing gratitude notes to both Poolesville students and staff. Club leaders said that students are often encouraged to write kind notes to staff in their free time — These same notes are often seen on teachers’ desks.📝
“It doesn’t have to be a holiday for you to be thankful for other people,” Gleason said.
Wednesday’s pipe cleaner flower making and karaoke saw the biggest turnout.🎤 This was followed by some healthy competition on Thursday with Poolesville Pictionary and some more karaoke.😊
The week ended with a Feel Good Friday — an initiative the club started last school year. On the last Friday of each month, students and staff are invited to the school track to listen and dance to music. Participants who walk or run one lap receive bracelets and snacks.
The club’s week-long agenda demonstrated how creativity and gratitude can foster self-care and social connectedness. Nagy said We Belong Week created the most engagement the club has seen.
“It wasn’t just Hero Club students — It was people I’d never seen before,” she said.
So what’s next for Hero Club/Falcon Minds Matter? The club is planning to assign Kindness Secret Missions!🤫 Students will be split into groups and be assigned a secret task, such as picking up trash outside and writing a kind note to a teacher. Gleason commented on what it means to be part of a club that centers students’ well-being.
“I feel like for a lot of people, it’s really hard to reach out for help because you feel like a burden,” Gleason said. “And I feel like Hero Club is a really good, open-arms kind of thing. It’s here for you to take the step, or for us to reach out to you.”
Congratulations to Poolesville’s Hero Club/Falcons Minds Matter for a successful campaign and school year!🥳 Follow the club on Instagram @phsheroclub for more updates.
A special thank you to Adventist Healthcare, the Devon C. Rubenstein Foundation, the Healthcare Initiative Foundation, the Jewish Social Service Agency, and our network of individual donors for supporting Our Minds Matter in Montgomery County Public Schools!