Gretchen Garrett is THE person to know at Oklahoma State University.

“When she’s walking on campus and has us on Face-Time, it’s ‘Hey Gretch, Hey Gretch, Hi Gretchen,’” said Riley Dacus.

“Everyone knows Gretchen. She says ‘That’s my friend.’ She doesn’t know their name, but they know hers.”

Dacus was speaking at a recent Lions Club meeting about her involvement in the 84 and Me Kindness Initiative.

She was joined by fellow KHS teacher Aniessa Edsall and by KHS junior Natalie Garrett, Gretchen’s younger sister.

More than a year ago, Gretchen Garrett’s family wanted to find a way to say “thank you” to Gretchen’s KHS Class of 2023, which “let her in and claimed her as their own” throughout her years in KPS.

Their unending kindness to their classmate with Down syndrome, the family said, helped Gretchen blossom into the social butterfly she is today.

That includes now being a part of OSU’s Opportunity Orange Scholars program.

The program allows students with intellectual disabilities to pursue a twoyear, non-degree academic certificate.

Gretchen lives on campus and is immersed in the college experience, including rushing and being accepted into the Alpha Omicron Pi (AOII) sorority last fall.

“She loves it,” Natalie said of her sister’s experience. “She came for Christmas, Spring Break and our sister’s wedding. Besides that, she doesn’t want to come home.”

Gretchen’s great life, according to her family, is due in large part to her classmates, so they started the 84 and Me Kindness Matters Scholarship.

Ivy Hartman, Gretchen’s best friend, was the first recipient.

The Garrett family namely Gretchen’s parents Greg and Sara Garrett played a large role in selecting Hartman for the honor, but it went beyond her unwavering love for their daughter.

According to the 84 and Me mission statement, the scholarship will go annually to a person who is “the reason everyone believes in the goodness of people by prompting and spreading kindness every day, in every situation, to every person you encounter with your actions, words and the choices you make, inside and out of the halls of KHS.”

Hartman fit that description.

But the Garretts also knew they needed more eyes and ears for future winners.

They also wanted the initiative to be more than a scholarship.

They wanted “kindness” to be something practiced in the halls because it mattered, not because scholarship dollars were at stake.

So they called on Dacus - a longtime family friend and Edsall to help head up a committee made of students at KHS. The 84 and Me Kindness Initiative Committee was born.

Committee members were selected by Dacus and Edsall along with input from the Garretts and some other KHS teachers.

“We pulled up a roster of each grade and picked some we thought would be good for the committee,” Dacus said. “We only wanted five or six kids, but there are so many good kids that we doubled it.”

The committee meets weekly and members discuss people within the KHS halls who stand out due to their kindness.

“It’s not a drama session,” said Natalie, who is on the committee. “We don’t say who’s better or why we like this person. We just truly pick the kindest person in the school.”

While ultimately the committee will pick the scholarship recipient out of the senior class each year, it’s doing more to recognize students for their kind efforts.

A “Kind Heart of the Week” winner is chosen each week.

The committee has started Facebook and Instagram pages to highlight those winners as well as other aspects of the initiative.

“It’s been a really cool thing,” Dacus said. “With the Facebook and Instagram pages, we’ve seen a lot of positive feedback with it and it’s just growing and growing and growing.”

Committee members signed an agreement, which lays out the mission, responsibilities and expectations for each of them.

They don’t advertise that they’re on the committee, but, said Edsall, “if someone asks, they tell them about it.”

Added Dacus: “What’s cool about these kids is, they’re never going to win the ‘Kind Heart of the Week’ or the scholarship. They’re genuinely doing this out of the goodness of their hearts…they want to spread this.

“It’s something they’re really proud of.”

The Garretts are proud of the work as well.

On top of the agreement, the family showed committee members the video that was played at the senior awards ceremony last year.

Sara also shared the vision and expectations for the scholarship and how important it is to the Garrett family and how “this is theirs to build and grow.”

“Riley, Ace and the kids have ran with it from there and have truly exceeded our expectations,” Sara said.

Dacus said it’s interesting to take part in the weekly meetings.

“It’s been really cool to hear the kids discuss different things that are happening. As teachers, we’re going to see one side of students part of the time, so it’s really interesting to hear the students’ perspective,” Dacus said.

“I think it’s good for them to see ‘what is really kindness?’ Are they being kind because they know they’re going to get recognized or are they doing stuff behind closed doors that no one else sees?”

Edsall is also an adviser for AOII and is still able to keep close tabs on Gretchen.

“I get to see it from a different perspective. I get to check on her and advocate for her,” Edsall said. “What’s really cool is AOII as a whole is advocating for her.”

Edsall relayed a story about a recent time when Gretchen was craving some ice cream.

So what does she do? “She calls Ian Daugherty and asks him to take her to get ice cream,” Edsall said.

Daugherty is not only a fellow KHS alum, but also a member of the Cowboy baseball team.

Edsall said Ian dropped what he was doing and was ready to fulfill Gretchen’s request.

“He’s at her door and it’s raining, so she just says ‘I’m not going.’

“It’s funny because Ian, who is busy with baseball as we know, went out of his way to take Gretchen to get ice cream. What Gretchen wants, Gretchen’s going to get. The best part is, nobody allowed her to ever think anything otherwise.

“She has a confidence and all that started right here.”