During the next week of school, Milford will be participating in its annual, “Caring Community Week”. This tradition has been going on for the past four years.

“The goals of this are to promote awareness-understanding that a little bit of kindness can go a long way- and wanting students to want to come to school and be accepted. This helps students improve grades and reach academic goals,” said Milford Counselor Bev Groth.

Milford Leadership teacher Dave Gilbert believes create a kinder, stronger support system for students in the school.

“We want to get people to think/act outside their comfort zone in a positive way,” said Gilbert. “It is a way to  make people think about others.”

This week is not just always done at Milford High School each year.

“It is a district-initiative. Every school in Huron Valley school district is doing this,” said Groth. “There is a mission statement that the district posted which is ‘To create an environment where everyone experiences a sense of safety, respect, and belonging. We are always surprised at how many kids what to get involved in this- the number grows every year.”

The greatest growth in participation happened when the Leadership team decided to help run this event.

“The Leadership class will be doing planning and set-up. They will run events and go ‘behind the scenes’,” said Gilbert. “But it is more about students helping other students.”

Groth said, that she hopes everyone will want to participate to make it work.

When asked about what type of community Milford had right now, both leaders had a good answer.

“I see the student body such as T.I.E.S. and Special Olympics giving back to the community. They are very caring,” said Groth.

“It’s a pretty good school. We do a good job of supporting our special needs students,” said Gilbert.

Even though they had good things to say about our community, they both had great suggestions on how we can improve our community right now.

“We can improve by being nice to each other and more welcoming (inviting others to their lunch table, etc.),” said Groth.

When asked about what they see in the hallways, some students had very insightful responses.

“I see people laughing and walking- I don’t see any fights,” said Milford Junior Ryan Rockafellow.

Due to the Leadership class and other people throughout the school, this year’s “Caring Community Week” should be a fun week. Make sure you participate this year and make a change in the world.