When Saksham found out he would be in M’s French class again he was excited. So excited that the first thing he did was send her an email. And while he likes learning French from her, the subject of the email was about something else.

”This year when I found out I was in M’s class again, I emailed her and said, ‘Hey are we going to do GiveThx again this year and when will it happen?’ And this was an email I really wanted to send because the effect that GiveThx has had on me is so, like so positive that it’s made me feel better to be in this class. Like the room itself feels like a home. And the large part of that is the community building that we do by sharing gratitude with each other.”

Saksham’s appreciation for the program has grown over the years. Now a senior, he started using GiveThx during freshman year when COVID hit. “Everyone was at home and it was like really chaotic. The first thing M assigned us was to write each other a message on GiveThx for support. And that was really helpful. We were outside of the classroom and we kinda felt like we were still together.”

Using GiveThx has helped Saksham extend his gratitude practice beyond the classroom.  He explains that at first giving gratitude felt ‘foreign’. However, now he uses it with friends outside of the platform. “I’ve sent texts to people just casually like, hey thank you for doing this for me or thank you for teaching me something. And the responses I get back are like ‘oh my gosh I wasn’t expecting this and to them it has so much meaning. Learning that gratitude has positive effects on like you and the receiver is such a valuable thing to me. It’s strengthened all of the relationships I’ve used gratitude with.”

Help other students make their classroom feel like a home. Any donation will go towards bringing our program to more schools across the country. Give the gift of gratitude today by contributing to GiveThx.

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