After cutting a rose from his backyard and placing it across the street on his neighbor’s mailbox, he wondered, “What were they feeling when they saw that?”

Math teacher Bradley Stoll started to “do good” everywhere he went–a smile here, a “hi” over there. Bringing water in his car, striking up conversations with homeless people, paying for strangers’ meals, and volunteering at a community kitchen gives him a purpose in life. He thought, “Okay, I’m going to spread kindness today.”

“I think [the homeless man] needed someone to believe in him,” he said. “I told him ‘the only real difference between you and me is chance.’ People [should] realize they are where you are not because of hard work, but because they have help along the way from someone. We all have parents, emotional support; we all have students who guide us along.”

Stoll has always been impacted by his students, both in the past and in the present. They are a part of the reason that he has changed his attitude towards life.

“I’ve stopped chasing happiness because I’m not really sure what it is,” he said. “I’ve decided through – I don’t know what it is – contentment, joy, pleasure. I’ve never been in a better place in my life. And you know what I credit a lot of it to? A lot of the Harker students.”

In particular, one student, Vishesh Gupta (‘12) introduced him to Awakin Wednesdays, gatherings where people can attend, silently meditate, share stories, clear minds, eat and send smile cards.

“Being around 50 people who exude love and non-judgment; it’s kind of like a cult of kindness, generosity and gratitude,” Stoll said. “This is something I need for myself to

recharge and refocus.”

Around his classroom, Stoll has put up the names of the music and people who have inspired him, most of whom he has met at the Awakins. John Malloy, Sam Bower, Lorraine Wong (‘13), Vishesh Gupta (‘12) are among those influential people. He also plays the album “Empty Hands” by Nimo in class for his students.

While he sees that the majority of the students are kind, he doesn’t think that they exhibit it as often as they should. Without the support of all the faculty and all the students, it’s so much harder to make a change.

“I don’t think we respect our campus enough,” Stoll said. “I think that’s part of the problem in society itself – we’re so wrapped up in ourselves. It’s frustrating sometimes when you’re trying to set a good example, but it doesn’t seem to be catching on. But you have to keep doing what is right and not worry about other people.”

To begin to add a little more good into the school community, Stoll started the Kindness Challenge, a 21-day challenge where students perform a small act of kindness everyday for 21 days. Stoll chose eight “pilot” students to test out the challenge: Vasudha Rengarajan (12), Corey Gonzales (12), Vedant Thyagaraj (12), Adele Li (11), Sophia Luo (11), Sadhika Malladi (11), Apoorva Rangan (12) and Karen Qi (11). The challenge ended three days ago.

Sadhika Malladi (11) found that constantly thinking about how to be kind to someone made her more conscious of her actions.

“The look on people’s faces when you did something nice for them and they weren’t really expecting it [was the most memorable part of the challenge],” she said.

He first heard of the idea from Audrey Lin on KindSpring, and discussed it with Jane Keller to introduce it into advisories. Everyday, the students would receive a suggestion for a kind act to perform, whether it be write a note to a teacher, give art, or talk to someone they hadn’t talked to in a while.

“That’s kind of the journey I’m on now,” Stoll said. “It’s hard, but I am happier than I’ve ever been.”