8th-Graders Go to Great Lengths to Cheer Up Classmates
Best friends Mary Martinez Smith and Damian Marlow wanted to make a difference at their middle school before holiday break. All it took to make a positive impact on their classmates was a few wise words… and 800 Post-It notes.
The friends showed up early in the morning before other students arrived to Axtell Park Middle School in Sioux Falls, SD. They came with hundreds of Post-Its filled with inspirational messages, and put an affirmation on every student's locker.
"Some people they don't get compliments at all and they just feel as if they're worthless, and we wanted to make them feel like they're worth something because they are," Mary told KSFY News.
It took the girls two hours a day for seven days to complete the notes. The messages on the notes ranged from the brief to the poignant - the girls wrote things like "Never say never," "Don't let struggle become your identity," and "You have to fight through some bad days to earn the best day of your life."
"Not only did it make other people feel great, I just feel great for doing it," Mary says. The friends hope their small act encourages classmates to do something positive for others in their own way.
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