During an early morning meeting on Nov. 30, members of Envolve, a club focused on bringing attention to the accomplishments of the community and unifying the school, sat on the floor of a classroom to design holiday posters for each department. With holiday music playing, students collaborated and passed each other markers and pens, working until five minutes before the first bell rang. 

The primary goal of the club is to ensure every member of the Glenbrook North community is welcome, seen and heard, junior Tasha Bazianos, co-vice president of Envolve, said.

“We’re GBN, and we just want to create that community [feeling],” Bazianos said.

In addition to creating holiday posters for each department in the school, Envolve has plans for other activities during the holiday season, including designing coloring books for kids in nearby children’s hospitals and in the GBN preschool.

According to club advisor Danielle Fluegge, Envolve was created as part of the Student Association. Since its inception, the club has grown to a group of around 20 students and averages eight acts of kindness per month.

Envolve coordinates many events, such as gifting goodie bags to sports teams and writing feel-good messages on bathroom mirrors, but Fluegge’s favorite tradition is “mugging,” which is when Envolve members gift mugs filled with goodies to different staff members each month, Fluegge said.

“We select a staff member from each department each month, and they get ‘mugged,’” said Fluegge. “It’s just a randomly nice thing to do.”

According to junior Matthew Dolins, co-vice president of Envolve, the purpose of “mugging” the staff is to show Envolve’s gratitude for the work of teachers and other staff members.

Beyond the holidays, Dolins looks forward to Envolve continuing to spread appreciation and kindness so that everyone is smiling at the end of the day and feels included in the community, he said.

“If we [highlight] individual groups to show that they’re seen and heard, we can make everyone feel like they belong,” Dolins said.