Students at Tupelo High School go out of their way to complete random acts of kindness all the time.

Teenagers can get caught up in stereotypes such as being extremely lazy and up to no good. Senior Brice Pickens is one unsung hero at THS. Pickens picks up trash around the courtyard during second lunch every day.

“Honestly I don’t have anything better to do,” Pickens said. “I noticed it was dirty and just thought I’d pick something up. It just kinda turned into a regular thing.”

Pickens has picked up some interesting items in the courtyard. Usually it’s half-empty Cheeto bags and empty salad boxes, but sometimes it’s gross like “a used corn cob or used gum,” he said.

Pickens may keep the courtyard clean, but doesn’t wear gloves.

“Would it make you comfortable if I said yes?” he asked jokingly.

Even though he doesn’t do it for attention, people around campus do take notice.

“Some of the security guards thank me,” he said. “Most of the students look at me like I’m weird.”

Assistant Principal Tyrone Catledge said that he didn’t realize Pickens was cleaning up the courtyard until a teacher told him about it.

“That makes me happy honestly, because you don’t see that,” Catledge said. “Instead of most students picking up after themselves, they’re leaving it for somebody else to do it. That actually makes me feel good that we have somebody that sees that and that’s trying to be responsible and pick up even after people that wasn’t responsible themselves. That makes me feel good that we have some people like that out there.”

Along with Pickens, there are several other THS students who perform random acts of kindness.

Callie Philips

Sophomore Callie Philips has been handing out sticky notes with positive messages between first and second block in downstairs A Building.

“I was in first block, and I had sticky notes in my backpack,” Philips said. “My friend and I were talking about how we’ve seen people pass out sticky notes at some schools, so I went into Mr. Hinds’ class in second block. I told him that it would be cool if we had done that, so he gave me a pack of sticky notes. He told me to write down smiley faces, ‘have a great day,’ and just random stuff and hand them out.”

Although not everyone reacts positively, Philips said that she would do it again.

“Besides getting weird looks, people will smile and say ‘thank you,’ and say ‘have a great day’ back,” she said “It makes you feel great.”

Perry Hershfelt

Junior Perry Hershfelt has given back to her community through her church, All Saints’ Episcopal. In December, her youth group split into smaller groups to do things around the Tupelo area, such as visiting nursing homes, putting money into vending machines, and giving leftover food to a charitable organization.

“My group went to put change in vending machines and gave our leftover pizza to Salvation Army,” Hershfelt said. “We took poinsettias and a card to a nursing home. With the money left over, we went to Fred’s and got blankets and hand warmers to hand out to homeless people around our church.”

Lexi Roberts
Junior Lexi Roberts picked up a little boy on the side of the road and drove him home.

“I picked up this little boy that was walking on the side of the street with bags of groceries in his hand,” Roberts said. “I turned around and asked him where he was going, so I dropped him off and talked to his mom to let her know that I wasn’t a stranger.”

In addition to wanting to help a child, Roberts was concerned about the weather.

“I just wanted to help him, and it was cold outside,” she said.