Friendship is one of the most wonderful and blissful things in the whole world. Friends are a force of love in school and otherwise. That is why, Stafford International School celebrated Friendship week 2021 on Wednesday, the 22^nd of September.

Each grade had a virtual event where they got together and played a few games and presented a few speeches on friendship and what the word means to them personally. However, the school took an extra step and used this as a chance to educate all of us on the realities and consequences of bullying. Our amazing principal, Mr. Simon Northcott, is the person to thank. He decided to show everyone in our school that bullying is a serious problem while also showing the positive impacts of friendship on bullying and how a smile or a greeting could change someone’s day.

Friendship Day was first celebrated in Paraguay and eventually, with the use of the internet and social media, spread across the globe. Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark Cards in 1930, was the first person to celebrate Friendship Day. She thought that a day to celebrate bonds and friendships across the world would be a good idea, she was right. The UN officially marked the honey obsessed mascot of our childhood, Winnie the Pooh, as the Ambassador of Friendship in 1988.

Friendship plays a huge role in life as it brings warmth and happiness to everyone’s life. It’s clear that friendship is not something that can be celebrated on one day specifically. It is meant to be shown every day, in either a hug or helping a friend out with some notes or comforting them during a rough patch.

Friendship day is not only celebrated in order to remind us of our friends but also the relationships waiting to be cultivated with people you see every day but aren’t close to. It reminds us of the opportunity every person provides when it comes to something as beautiful and amazing as camaraderie.