A Noteworthy Event

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to Windsor Creek Elementary and hang up hundreds of sticky notes with their kind messages down the halls. It was definitely a success and they looked adorable!

News has it that the kids loved seeing all the notes today, and we provided all the classrooms with sticky notes so each child could make their own note to hang up.

I am so grateful for the help I had in making the TONS of sticky notes, and I am hoping we can reuse some of the notes if we are to do another round with maybe Brooks Elementary.

Overall I feel like this was a very meaningful project...what I have learned most in this mental health unit is that children in particular need to be shown constant love and support to have an emotionally steady future. Being able to lift the spirits of these kids and encourage them to spread kindness was an awesome opportunity. I know from personal experience that the quotes and messages that you just hear randomly can really touch your heart and stick with you forever. If these positively affect the emotions of even one kid, then it is certainly worth it to me. For all I know, a kid could be suffering a lot and then come to school and get a smile out of one of the notes. Or it might create a realization in another child's mind that there are people out there who care for them. Either way, I am extremely happy with the outcome of the project and am looking forward to possibly seeing the notes that the students made.

The Kindness Campaign Continues

          Today is the day that we will make our campaign more public, as people are coming to view our projects this afternoon. I will be using this as an opportunity for free labor, and will be reaching out to people to create sticky notes for next Monday. Also, I will be advertising the site and giving encouraging people to create their own virtual note. I got a few people to write theirs so that there would be a few examples:

           Other updates are that I officially have a Twitter and an Instagram for the campaign, @stickynotespot. 
The biggest difficulty right now is finding people to share their troubles they have overcome. Shaylene contacted two people who she believed would be interested, although she has not let me know if they have contacted her. She also will write a piece empowering kids who have suffered from bullying.
          Lastly, the date for hanging up the notes is finalized - a group and I will be constricting as many notes as we can this weekend, as we will be hanging them up next Monday. 

Consciously Creating One's Disease

          Throughout my life I have always known that alcohol taking in excess is horrible for you, and I am fortunate to have known such. For there are many people out there who seem to overlook the fact the alcoholism is essentially a purposefully accumulated disease. Two guest speakers recently came in to speak to us about the "ism" so easily forgotten in "alcoholism".
           The two speakers were from "Alcohol Anonymous", or A.A. Given that they are from an anonymous group I will not refer to them by their names but merely give you some background on their stories. Basically both of them started drinking early in their youth and got to the point where they could not control it - hence becoming an alcoholic. They were both driven to the ground in different ways, losing their friends and themselves. Finally they grew desperate enough and did one sensible thing, going to an A.A. meeting and cleaning up their act.
          However, as one of the speakers mentioned, alcoholism is not something that can simply be cured and left in the past. Years later alcoholics are still working to stay sober. For alcoholism is a disease left within the core of oneself, regardless of whether or not they are sober. There will always be the mission of staying sober for them, and though it grows easier they will have to continue to put in the work. A.A. meetings are consistently attended and service work such as what the two provided to us (speaking) is performed, all to keep in the right mindset of staying sober.
          What we can take away from the experiences of these speakers and from alcoholics all over the world, is to never put yourself in the position to become an alcoholic or addict of any kind. The harm it causes is permanent, whether or not the symptoms are still visible down the road. Yet the more hopeful message we received was that it is absolutely possible to achieve a better state of mind and to fight the alcoholic inside oneself after it has developed. It was a great reminder that the mental health of oneself is malleable, and no matter what disease you face - depression, anxiety, substance abuse - there is a way to change.

The Sticky Note Spot

I am happy to say that my new unit project - on our mental health unit - is coming along great! We were supposed to use a creative medium to spread awareness about a mental health issue. I looked at the different topics: depression, anxiety, substance abuse, etc., and I realized just researching and making a video about one of these would make me kind of sad and have no real impact on the community. I wanted to make something that could potentially help with people suffering from a mental health issue, or simply going through something hard in general. In our circles in class (see science notebook), I have learned that a lot of people are going through very hard situations, and they often do not have anyone to share their issues with. Others are drowning in so much sadness and need some encouragement. And then there are those who are such encouraging figures, and could use a tool to spread their encouragement. That is why for part of my project I am creating "The Sticky Note Spot". The site in itself has been designed, I have just not made it known yet for people to start using it.

This is what the home page looks like, (obviously it looks pretty bland right now but it will not once it's convered in sticky notes!) and essentially people click the little black create icon to construct their own sticky note spreading their words of encouragement and kindness. My hope is that eventually the bulletin board will be full of kind words, and encourage whoever reads it. I think there is something special about people from wherever writing something to help someone else, and I think that can also encourage the writer.

Aside from this, the site also has a testimonies sort of aspect, where people can share their stories in an attempt to inspire the readers. Also, if someone is struggling with something they can share what they are going through and receive comments from others offering their encouragement. I have been in contact with Shaylene King, one of the leaders of "The Mean Girls Extinction Program", and she will be writing a piece empowering girls in particular, and is going to connect me to two others who experienced bullying who are willing to share their stories.

Finally the site contains and About page, explaining the purpose of the website.

This site obviously will only work if it becomes public and people contribute, so once we have gotten a few people Shaylene is going to blog about it to steer some traffic over here. I have also started a Twitter @stickynotespot, and will soon create an Instagram steering people over here. Also, we will soon be doing a public event, and I thought it would be awesome if we could get in in The Windsor Times and have them mention the site. Then obviously I will be telling the core about it and have people I know check it out.

As for the public event, I have been in contact with Julie Stern, the principal of Windsor Creek. We have arranged for myself, and a team that I will organize, to come to the campus on Monday 12/19/16 in the afternoon and spread a ton of sticky notes with kind notes throughout the halls. Then throughout that week the kids will be writing and adding their own notes. It works out perfectly because Windsor Creek is having their "Kindness Month" this month, so this fits in with everything they are spreading. If this goes well I am hoping to do a similar event at either Brooks of Mattie Washburn come January. Hopefully the weather will also be better so we can post them outside as well.

So currently I am working on finding people to write their inspiring stories, gathering people to help with the event, and working on the social media accounts for the site. As we make the notes and hang them up I will also videotape a feature to potentially post on the site.