Story by AIDAN HAMMOND Photos by MENGYAO LI, RORY MOORE and KELSEY WICK
Tiger Media Network
FHSU hosted Gratitude Week last week, offering faculty, staff and students the chance to express gratitude to important individuals in their lives.
The week was planned by Student Engagement, the Office of the President and University Marketing. Originally planned as a single day of celebration for World Gratitude Day, September 21, the offices came together to plan a whole week of events to show the faculty, staff, and students how grateful they were to them and encourage them to do the same for others who made an impact in their lives.
Students gather around the table, focused on writing down their grateful thoughts. 
A group of students smile and interact, enjoying the gratitude – sharing moment. 
Colorful sticky notes and markers are ready for everyone to express gratitude. 
Everyone crowds around the table, eager to join in the gratitude activity. 
Students chat and write, immersed in the warm atmosphere of gratitude. 
Students chat and write, immersed in the warm atmosphere of gratitude. 
Students chat and write, immersed in the warm atmosphere of gratitude. 
A student stands proudly by the gratitude display, happy to be part of it. 
A student gives a thumbs – up, showing his enjoyment of the gratitude event.
The events consisted of a variety of activities, like filling out postcards that would be mailed to whoever the students wanted. Over 400 postcards were sent out to people, and another 100 were delivered to faculty on campus to share the positivity. Another event had students write what they were thankful for on a large piece of paper with a marker displayed for all to see in the Memorial Union. The Student Government Association had students put positive messages on rocks that were to be placed around campus for people to find and receive positive messages throughout the day.
Participants were also encouraged to bring positivity to others through pay-it-forward initiatives. For Student Engagement Director Brett Meyer, the event was a success and showed them that future events similar to Gratitude Week would go over well.
“We talked about how easy it was; we do have some things left, so we may just bring those out here and there,” Meyer said. “We definitely want to do something every semester. We want to do something that we’re thankful for, grateful for, something in that nature.”