Skyline High School Sophomore Tatum Suite Smith launches
“Kindness Matters” Campaign in Effort to Combat Suicide Spike in Community
Salt Lake City, UT – March 17, 2019 – While campaigning for student body office is nothing out of the ordinary this time of year, at Skyline High School one student is hoping her run for office sparks a new standard for her fellow eagles -- kindness. Tatum Suite Smith, a sophomore and member of Skyline’s tennis and golf team launched her “Campaign for Kindness” earlier this month with hopes of changing the narrative regarding depression and suicide at her school.
“I feel like I need to be constantly giving everyone hugs,” Smith said. “I just want everyone to know they’re loved. With all the suicides happening at our school, in our neighborhood and throughout the state, I just felt like something had to be done. I wanted to make a difference.”
Smith said the idea of running for office made her nervous, but she decided to put herself out there and use her platform to make sure all her classmates had a friend. The first order of business: making a goal to connect with as many members of Skylines’s student body as possible, regardless of if they were eligible to vote for her or not.
“As far as I know, this particular type of outreach has never been part of an SBO [student body office] campaign,” she said, who has used a mix of personal phone calls and meet-and-greets before school to connect with the student-body. The meet-ups have include small tokens of appreciation including heart stickers, hot chocolate on cold mornings, popcorn and even dressing up in full “Glinda the Good Witch” regalia to emphasize the need to be kind. To kick-off the campaign she gave 20 friends a sheet of 10 heart-shaped stickers challenging them to find 10 people to connect with; and in one day more than 200 people had been invited to join the campaign for kindness –whether or not they were eligible to vote for Smith.
Smith says her hope that a message of love, inclusion and kindness would resonate with everyone-- inside and outside the walls of Skyline is already gaining traction. “We’ve had people from outside our school – kids and their parents – saying they’re joining and supporting the campaign!” and Smith couldn’t be more excited about it.
Cassandra Suite-Smith, the mother of Smith and former Skyline alumna says there’s been a visible change in her daughter since she made the decision to run. “Where going to school used to give her anxiety, she has a bigger purpose, Suite-Smith said. “She can feel it. She can see she’s already making a difference and that has changed here whole countenance and willingness to be at school. She’s never dragging her feet in the morning. She truly looks forward to meeting her fellow classmates and wants everyone to feel loved and welcomed. It’s inspiring. I’m so proud of her.”
“I just want everyone to know that they matter,” Smith said. “I want to be their friend, and let them know that we can change the narrative for ourselves and each other.”
The “Campaign for Kindness” creative design features red and white hearts with the tagline “because kindness matters” and “#tatum4kindness.”
“Running for office shouldn’t just be about who is the most popular, or who spends the most money,” said Smith. “It really should be about making a difference in the lives of those around you—and that’s what I want to do. This is so much bigger than I ever imagined. The best part is – it doesn’t matter if I win or lose, because the campaign is about way more than me. Kindness matters! I feel a little bit like lyrics from Hamilton: this is not a moment, it’s a movement!”
Tatum Suite Smith is a sophomore at Skyline High School and is running for the office of junior class vice president. You can join the Kindness Matters campaign by following Tatum on Instagram at @tatumsuitesmith or using the hashtag #tatum4kindess.
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