RB celebrates World Smile Day
October 7, 2021
Harvey Ball created the smiley face in 1963, and since then, it has become a universal symbol of happiness and positivity. Ball decided to create World Smile Day as a way to celebrate the meaning of the smiley face: goodwill and good cheer. The first World Smile Day took place in 1999, on the first Friday of October, and Riverside Brookfield High School is continuing the tradition of bringing positivity to the world.
“I think it’s just a fun day to bring happiness into the world because I feel like a lot of the time you can get caught up in your own world, and World Smile Day just brings the positivity that you need,” Olivia Lozado said, a junior and a member of Best Buddies.
The Best Buddies club organized the celebration, spreading positivity with decorations, stickers, bracelets, and more. During lunch periods, students in Best Buddies set up a table in the cafeteria, with cheerful music, multi-colored smiley face stickers, bracelets, cards, temporary tattoos, stamps, and a big poster titled “What Makes You Smile?” that students could sign.
“We’re asking kids to fill out smile cards and hand them to a friend or family member, and just do random acts of kindness,” Dawn Soprych said, a now retired teacher sponsor of Best Buddies.
However, spreading positivity goes further than just RB. World Smile Day is about celebrating acts of kindness all over the world.
“I think it’s important to spread positivity everywhere,” Soprych said, “Here at RB, and beyond RB.”
