The Paw Print

By Paw Print Editorial Board & Staff

Freshmen traveled to elementary schools to support local students and teachers. Photo courtesy of the Payton Pulse.

Traditionally, Sweetness Day at Payton has been a student-led day of service honoring the humanitarian work and legacy of the school’s namesake, Walter Payton. Historically held on March 4 to align with the football legend’s number, 34, in recent years, it has been held in late May. This year, the March 4 date was reintroduced alongside several new changes. 

Freshman, sophomore and junior advisories were assigned activities by the administration, while only senior advisories retained the previously extended autonomy to choose their own community service projects. Freshmen were sent to elementary schools to “discuss the high school transition and provide community service,” and sophomores were sent to high schools to participate in Project L.E.A.D., which promotes organ and tissue donation. Juniors, meanwhile, were originally told they would be hosting younger students at Payton as part of Project Snowflake, which focuses on drug and bullying prevention. However, they were later informed that they would be participating in Chicago Cares projects around the city, and in the end, most junior advisories were bused to West Englewood for a cleanup of Ogden Park. 

It should be noted that each of these projects is a meaningful way to serve Chicago’s communities, and participating in Project L.E.A.D has a particularly strong link to Mr. Payton’s humanitarian legacy—despite having learned that his cancer made him ineligible for a liver donation, he spent the last few weeks of his life raising awareness for organ donation. That said, in assigning a vast majority of students’ projects rather than offering students the opportunity to engage with Chicago communities in a way they find particularly meaningful, Sweetness Day was transformed from a student-led day of service toward what could, in the eyes of some, amount to a media spectacle. 

Sweetness Day should not be a day when the school celebrates the humanitarian legacy of Mr. Payton by ordering thousands of matching T-shirts to wear at service projects around the city. It should not be a day when students wait 90 minutes for a bus, only to spend half an hour picking up trash at Ogden Park, meet the local alderman and head back to Payton. It certainly should not be a day where the fact that the school made the news makes up the majority of the actual substance in what the Payton Pulse has to say about the event: “Last week, Payton students once again embodied the spirit of service on our beloved Sweetness Day, giving back to the community in meaningful ways—and even making headlines! We were featured on the news – ABC7 for this year’s outstanding commitment to service, showcasing how our students continue to honor Walter Payton’s legacy through action.”

The point of Sweetness Day is not and should not be to make headlines, nor should it be to cast the school, its students and its administration in a positive light to the greater Chicago community. What it should be, however, is a genuine opportunity for students to take initiative to create an opportunity for themselves and their peers to give back to the local community in ways that allow them to engage with their current interests and to foster a passion for community service that will create a lasting impression, even after graduation. 

By reinstating student-led, advisory-based Sweetness Day activities, the administration would create an opportunity for students to do all of this. Students would learn how to research opportunities and reach out to the appropriate contacts to pursue them. They would develop the resilience and problem-solving skills to work through scheduling challenges and to adapt when plans do not work out, buses do not arrive on time and weather does not quite cooperate. Students would have the opportunity to create an experience that is truly their own—in doing so, they would be far more likely to develop a genuine, life-long commitment to community service and the humanitarian values of the school and event’s namesake than if they continue to be handed service assignments by the administration.

At the end of the day, Mr. Payton was celebrated for his exceptional athletic performance as a football player. Payton is celebrated for the exceptional academic performance of its students and teachers. Mr. Payton did not engage in charitable and humanitarian work in order to garner positive media attention—in fact, he often chose to donate toys to children and families anonymously, presumably because he prioritized the values behind his actions over the potential spectacle. If Sweetness Day is truly about embodying the values and honoring the humanitarian legacy of Mr. Payton, then we too should prioritize the values of community service over recognition from the media and surrounding community.

Bring back student-led Sweetness Day service projects. Reinstate the late-May date—doing so would allow students to focus on community service rather than approaching assessments and AP exams—and leave the T-shirts behind.