Students at Revere Middle School are returning to an exciting new campus addition in the 2022-2023 school year. In collaboration with Houston Random Acts of Kindness, HISD Wraparound Services unveiled the district’s first RAK Room.
The room is decorated with bright colors and displays showcasing prizes ranging from T-shirts to mountain bikes. The space is designed to be a place of respite for students, a place that is all theirs, where they can celebrate and be rewarded for their commitment to social and emotional wellness as well as academics.
“RAK” stands for “Random Acts of Kindness,” as inspired by Houston Random Acts of Kindness Day, an organization founded by husband-and-wife team Treveia and David Dennis. Students can earn points and cash them in for RAK Room prizes.
“Kids can earn RAK bucks and RAK points through academics, attendance, anti-bullying, giving back, volunteering,” explained David Dennis. “We want to teach financial literacy, and there are so many things that we can do through this program that will help our children, and that’s what it’s really all about.”
The program is designed to engage students to invest in their school communities through positive classroom behavior, increased attendance, leadership development, tutorials, and more. Parents and caretakers are also encouraged to participate in the RAK program and can earn points alongside their children through parent engagement activities, taking parenting classes, or logging volunteer hours.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make sure we are providing all students with the non-academic resources that they need,” said Wraparound Services manager Kenya Washington, who worked together with community sponsors and Revere MS to bring the RAK Room project to fruition. “Incentive-based items, parent engagement, student engagement, all of that under one roof is the goal.”
“We want to make sure that we showcase the great things that are happening at Revere,” said principal Gerardo Medina. “Revere is a great institution, and I think that having the RAK room goes a long way towards showing that community that our students matter and that we care about them, and we want to give them all of the resources that they need to be successful.”
RAK Rooms will open in 12 HISD schools altogether over the next several months to act as school stores and resource rooms to reward students’ personal achievements as well as their contributions to their school communities.
“Hopefully this program will engage students,” Dennis said. “It will engage instructors, it will engage parents, and give us an opportunity to make a difference.”