Driving into the parking lot of her mom’s boyfriend’s house, senior Audrey Wagner was met with some unexpected company. She was just arriving at the house, which was and still is under construction, in the woods of West Chicago when an old couple approached their car. It turned out, they lived nearby and wanted to give the family a warm welcome. 

After an exchange of small talk, though, the older lady said something that made Wagner’s day: she complimented Wagner on her hair. Wagner described the effects of those brief words.

“It made me happy and more confident,” Wagner said. “I was more engaged with what they were saying.”

Shortly thereafter, the couple, who seemed like grandparents to Wagner, went off on a tangent and dove into how they fell in love. According to Wagner, they were high school sweethearts; the man met the woman in their high school algebra class and the rest was history. 

Wagner was happy to hear the story from the couple.

“I did [enjoy it], because you don’t hear that stuff very often …” Wagner said. “To hear it from random people it kind of makes your day.”

Little acts of kindness like that is what Wagner tries to emulate in her everyday life. Holding doors or complimenting others is just a couple ways she tries to show her respect for others.

“Making things easier for somebody, just … makes their day, and also can improve your day to know that you did something good for other people.”

Another way to show kindness, besides a compliment, is giving gifts. Good gifts don’t have to be costly, according to Wagner, as long as it has a meaning behind it.

“Personal ones [are the best gifts],” Wagner said” It doesn’t have to be the most expensive thing, but if it proves [that] you’ve paid attention to them and you care about them, then it could cost nothing. You could just write a handwritten letter that shows you know them.”

It’s the small deeds or acts that Wagner believes can be great for both the recipient of kindness and the giver of kindness.

“I think the random small acts of kindness are good because it doesn’t take that much time or energy, but it gives people that sense of happiness without trading too much,” Wagner said. “I feel like the ends kind of justify the means.”

Senior Bella Villalobos made a new friend in a Prospect bathroom after she was complimented on her seemingly kind personality. It was a nice change of pace for her, especially because Villalobos says that she’s usually the one complimenting others. She explained that the bathroom tends to be a good place to exchange kind words because she usually notices that students are looking in the mirror, almost unhappy with the way they look. As a result, Villalobos likes to give out random compliments to students.

“It makes me feel happy,” Villalobos. “Knowing that I’m able to make someone say ‘Oh my God, I didn’t expect that and thank you.’ It just makes me feel a lot better. It makes me feel like they’re happier today and now.”

Although it’s possible for people to overdo acts of kindness or compliments, Villalobos explained that the element of surprise is the most effective tactic to counter that. 

“If you’re just always complimenting, it seems like you’re a suck-up or a pushover, but if you do it once in a while … they take it unexpectedly,” Villalobos said.

In addition to compliments, Villalobos likes to show kindness by sharing clothes with her sister. When her sister’s feeling uncertain about what to wear for certain occasions, Villalobos likes to offer up a dress or other clothing for her to wear. 

Ultimately, Villalobos’s philosophy revolves around making others feel good about themselves, especially when life brings people down. 

“Negative things can happen more often than positives,” Villalobos said. “So, change someone’s day with something positive, instead of being a grinch for the rest of your life.”

“I was tired after a day of when the Marines visited and felt terrible at the cafeteria, so one of the security guards bought me a gatorade, and I felt way better.

“I’m on crutches and I was trying to open the door for [myself] and no one was around and I was struggling … So, someone walking past me [saw] and sprinted over to open the door for me.”

“Another student helped me do my Biology homework when they saw me struggling [when I was] doing it in [the] KLC.”