PETOSKEY NEWS REVIEW
Oct 9, 2019
In April of this year, Lance Bailey, a teacher at Petoskey High School, and a friend of mine, emailed me about “an amazing deal” happening at the school.
The “deal” began with a student of his, Spencer Tibbits.
“You occasionally run across students where you learn more from them than you teach them. I knew that Spencer was going to be one of those students,” he wrote.
If you are connected at all to the school and/or the Tibbits family, you know that Spencer died in a car accident on his birthday in 2014.
Bailey writes how shocked and saddened he was to hear this on the day it happened. “What will I say to the students on Monday in my physics class? I just remember crying and writing a letter to his family expressing my condolences.”
It was during Spencer’s funeral that Bailey heard an inspiring story involving Spencer and a bag of Cheetos. The story stuck.
“A student was crying in the hallway here at Petoskey High School and Spencer simply sat down beside them and pulled a small bag of Cheetos out of his back pack and said, ‘Nobody can be sad when they are eating a bag of Cheetos.’ He had planned for this kindness. More stories surfaced of similar situations in which Spencer was looking out for the hurt and broken and provided kindness, compassion and comfort.”
This story moved Bailey so much, he went back to his classroom and covered Spencer’s desk with bags of Cheetos. He told the story and retold it to his students, encouraging them to live by Spencer’s example. They all agreed, the desk — and all the Cheetos on it — would remain untouched for the rest of the year.
At the end of the school year, Bailey wondered what to do with all those Cheetos. So just before summer break, he decorated his ceiling with them.
“I entered my classroom to prep for the start of the 2015-16 school year and the Cheetos greeted me with many emotions.”
Leaving them there was an excellent springboard, Bailey discovered, to continue telling Spencer’s story to a new crop of students.
The idea caught on. Students began to bring in their own Cheetos to add to the collection. They asked Mr. Bailey if they could give some to kids who were struggling, just as a way to let them know they cared. More people heard about these simple acts and wanted to help. To do more.
That summer, Bailey brainstormed a way to take things to the next level.
“It simply hit me,” he wrote. “Cheetos Club.”
It was meant to be.
Last Friday, if you attended Petoskey’s home football game, you’ll remember that just after halftime, the announcer began to speak about the Cheetos Club and its aim to “plan for kindness.” High school students made their way up and down the bleachers, passing out small bags of Cheetos, each stapled with a message, a loving reminder of a legacy: Plan to be kind.
As I happily crunched my free, salty, cheesy snack in the crisp fall twilight, I was in awe of this club and its vision, inspired by someone who appeared to just be doing what he did. Spencer inspired Bailey who inspired his students who inspire this community. Now, it is up to us.
In a world where everyone is constantly connected, kindness seems to have gotten smaller. People have become more lonely. A concentrated effort to be kind may be just what we need right now.