One organization, one goal: spread kindness.

A club that joyfully accepts any student that walks in its doors, Teenagers Affirming Classmates Outreach meets every Tuesday during A lunch to make a change for the better in the school.

“The whole purpose of TACO Tuesday is affirming,” TACO Tuesday club sponsor Jeanna Sutton said. “It’s an accountability group that helps people learn to be more kind to each other and to speak life into people with words that are positive.”

The group began with only three but has grown into a welcoming body of anywhere from 50 to 100 members, over the years.

“It started years ago when there were three little girls sitting outside of my classroom,” Sutton said. “I asked them why they were there, and they said they just hated eating in the cafeteria because people were so mean. The next day I invited them in; it just happened to be Tuesday, and I brought them tacos. Therefore, we just kind of came up with the acronym, Teenagers Affirming Classmates Outreach because we talked about what we could do to help our school be a better place where people would be kind to each other.”

Since its humble origins, several other students have also recognized the need for a more accepting, compassionate student body and joined the club to create just that.

“TACO Tuesday is a really good way to get to know people and make sure that no one is alone,” sophomore Seth Green said.

Spreading further than just the walls of the lecture hall, TACO Tuesday’s impact has created waves of positive transformation throughout a stereotypical harsh high school atmosphere.

“We try to do things for people in our school that would make our school a better place,” Sutton said. “We did the positive quote wall, things like that. I usually give [members] a challenge to do some small act of kindness in the school.”

In honor of it’s namesake, the group enjoys tacos together once a month and looks to expand and spread its affirming influence in the future.

“I hope to send the message that everybody in our school is important and is loved and has value,” Sutton said. “Everybody is included in this club; we don’t ever exclude anybody. Anybody that wants to come to this club can be a part of it.”