BOUNTIFUL—Sending a compliment to a schoolmate or high school staff just got a little easier. At Viewmont High School, students can currently fill out a small form to share a thoughtful message with someone else. These forms can be picked up and turned into the main office. Once a form is filled out, it will be attached to a small treat and delivered to the recipient.

Joani Stevens, Viewmont High PTSA President, and Rachel Miller, a parent who helps with Mental Health Week at the school, have been working with this idea for the past three years. “So this is our third school year in a row that we have hosted this week with the theme Spread Sunshine,” said Miller. “One component of it is the Compliment Cards.”

The idea behind these cards is so that students can fill out a compliment for any fellow student, teacher or staff member. “And then we attach a treat and deliver it in the hopes that it brightens their day,” said Miller.

Viewmont High School hosts this Mental Health Week every year in the spring. However, this year Stevens and Miller decided that they wanted the students to be able to start the cards in the fall. “Joani had the idea that we do it in the fall this year so we could keep the compliment cards going on all year,” said Miller.

So, instead of only focusing on the program for one week, the PTSA hopes to continually encourage the students to share these cards throughout the school year. “They were well received last year,” said Stevens. “And we hope it will be the same this year.”

“We have had a decent response the past two years,” said Miller. “But we are hopeful that if we do it the rest of the school year, it will reach more students and continue to be a source of sunshine to the students.”

Miller said that they got the idea from Davis High School and started using the concept at Viewmont High. In the past, the complement cards have been part of Red Ribbon Week, but the school is moving to include them year-round. 

As the students receive a card with their treat, they are encouraged to pay it forward and remember those around them.