Sunlight from the courtyard had a touch of color the past few weeks as sticky notes covered the windows of the courtyard with positive messages as part of a campaign launched by Sources of Strength May 12.
Sources of Strength is a new club this year at Whitman dedicated to preventing and raising awareness for bullying and mental illness. The sticky note campaign is their second campaign this year; the first emphasized the establishment of trust by having students write the name of a teacher they trusted on a sticky note and compiling them into a collage by the main office.
The sticky note campaign launched when principal Alan Goodwin approached the club with concerns with a rise in bullying and positive anonymous messages in the women’s bathroom stalls inspired members.
“We like to approach things by looking at the positives and trying to be positive, not just ‘anti-bullying,’” staff coordinator Rebecca Leef said.
Messages written by the club members range from the serious “You’re beautiful” to the more comical: “I love you like Kanye loves Kanye.”
Several of the sticky note messages were written in different languages to celebrate the diverse cultures of Whitman, senior member Zoe Berkovitz said.
“We decided we should do some other languages so that people who speak them can feel a little closer to the messages we want them to see,” Berkovitz said.
Many students have said the messages have succeeded in brightening their day, but some criticized the impersonal nature of the campaign.
“When it comes to lifting people’s spirits, this is a nice way to do it, but there are more effective ways,” freshman Zoe Kaufman said. “Because it’s from a specific group of people [who] don’t know the person, written in kind of generic handwriting, it doesn’t feel personal enough.”
Some students said doing the campaign earlier, or making it more widespread, would have been more effective.
Sources of Strength chose to expand the campaign to social media May 19. The club created Facebook page “Whitman Strength” to post positive messages as well as individualized compliments sent in anonymously by students, like past pages “Whitman Compliments” and “Whitman Valentine,” junior member David Rekhtman said.
“In the sticky note campaign, we wanted to encourage student and teachers to be more positive, to realize they are worth a lot,” Rekhtman said. “Our goal is to make it a place where positive posts can bring smiles to students.”
Some students worry that the nature of complimenting someone anonymously online is too impersonal, and may cause more harm than good.
“People’s idea of what a compliment is is different,” junior Xavier Roberts-Gaal said. “That can only be magnified by social media, because social media distances. It can feel a little superficial.”
But students who were cynical of the effectiveness of the sticky note campaign in combating bullying believe that social media is a more active and personal means of student outreach.
“It’s direct interaction on a platform that almost all students are involved with,” junior Michael Barsky said. “I can definitely see it having positive impacts on students and brighten their day up a bit.”
Sources of Strength plans to launch another campaign effort before the end of the school year.
“Since it’s a new program this year, we haven’t had much of a chance to plan programs as frequently and widespread as other schools have,” Berkovitz said. “Our campaigns have really only just started.”
