Building A Culture Of Connectedness On East Islip’s Say Hello Day

EAST ISLIP, NY - For the first Say Hello Day on Oct. 4, students and staff at each of East Islip’s four elementary schools were encouraged to reach out to someone that they did not know during the day, with the goal of fostering feelings of acceptance and inclusiveness.

Everyone wore name tags to assist in easily making new friends while building a sense of community.

“It was fun to be able to say hi to everyone by name and set a positive tone for everybody in the school,” said John F. Kennedy Elementary School Principal Deborah Smith. “It’s always a great day when you increase the number of people you were able to make feel good by simply sharing a ‘Hello!’ Our goal this year was to create a culture of connectedness. It was a fantastic day of demonstrating kindness to everyone.”

Photos courtesy of the East Islip School District