Lake County students are filling their campuses with thousands of colorful flags this month, each carrying a message about kindness, acceptance and inclusion.

Lake County Schools partnered with the MIKE Endowment to create “Fields of Kindness” at 20 schools during National Bullying Prevention Month. Each participating campus will plant 200 flags representing bullying prevention, suicide awareness and mental health awareness.

Students will also make the displays their own by writing messages of encouragement, support and tribute on the backs of the flags.

Orange and blue flags represent bullying prevention, teal and purple represent suicide awareness and green represents mental health awareness.

The initiative incorporates the district’s student-led You Are Not Alone ambassadors, who work to promote mental health awareness and support among their peers.

“The MIKE Endowment has been deeply committed to supporting mental health-related projects and programs across Lake County Schools for nearly 10 years,” MIKE Endowment founder Joe Ziler says.

Joe created the endowment in memory of his brother, Mike Ziler, to increase awareness and support for mental health initiatives.

“This is, by far, our most ambitious and public partnership, one which we hope to be able to continue to grow annually as we place a high degree of importance on showing our public school students and staff that they are seen, they matter, they are not alone and that kindness towards each other can make a significant difference,” Joe says.

The project officially launched Oct. 1 at Eustis Middle School, where representatives from the MIKE Endowment joined the school in planting its Field of Kindness.

Students and staff throughout the district were encouraged to wear blue Oct. 5 to kick off National Bullying Prevention Month. The district will also participate in Unity Day Oct. 21, when students and staff are encouraged to wear orange in support of students who experience bullying and to promote kindness, acceptance and inclusion.

“Every student deserves to walk onto a Lake County Schools campus knowing that they are seen, valued and safe,” Superintendent Diane Kornegay says. “These Fields of Kindness give our students an opportunity to actively create a culture where those values are visible every day.”

Diane says the partnership turns those messages into something students and their communities can see and share throughout October.

Photos from Mental Illness and Kindness Endowment – MIKE