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extraordinary THE CELEBRATING SUCCESS AT STFX The weather gods toyed with us all spring: intense sunlight was interspersed with gales of wind lifting barbecues off lawns, and mud puddles that destroyed even the hardiest of trendy bootware. Nominations to the President’s Council of Young Alumni were made; final papers edited; and nightmares of lab exams finally ceased dancing in students’ heads. They were replaced with the hush of exam season, when the necessity of study was challenged by a yearning to toss one last Frisbee with friends or make one last trek to the Dairy Queen. And now, our seniors have graduated and left, carrying StFX with them and making room for new leaders to emerge. The campus is quiet – too quiet. Kent Anyone passing through the SUB on Monday, March 14, couldn’t miss it: a giant wall of brightly-coloured post-its, on which people were writing the things that had made them happy that day. The sentiments ranged from the mundane (“We got McDonalds for breakfast!” and “Being early when I thought I was late.”) to the commonplace (there were lots of “Coffee!” stickies) to the deeply personal (“I’m Muslim and I pray 5x/day. That’s the secret to happiness. Trust me.”). The wall was the brainchild of students Clare Bekkers, Emily MacDonald, Siobhan Morris, and Ian Townsend. They wanted to see how many people they could reach on campus, but thought the project should be essentially devoid of technology. MacDonald notes: “People tend to focus on negative things, and it throws off your whole day. We wanted to switch that thinking.” And, Bekkers added, “we wanted it to be a bit mysterious – to pique people’s interest.” The reaction, the team notes, was overwhelmingly positive. As students and other members of the StFX community passed by, they spent time reading the wall of notes before contributing themselves. In total, more than 400 people contributed to the wall – over 2000 stickies in all. The best part, notes Bekkers, is the snowball effect: “As people read the wall, they got more and more happy!” Reading about others’ happiness produced a positive reaction in the audience, and for the project’s creators. Now, they say, they can appreciate happy moments when they happen, and MacDonald comments that the project brought her closer to the friends and family she asked to contribute stickies. Their next steps are to continue promoting happiness through the Humans of StFX site, and they’d like to keep the wall up permanently – so everyone on campus can be reminded, daily, of the things that make them happy. A StFX NEWSLETTER FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT extraordinary THE 1 ISSUE 3 “As people read the wall, they got more and more happy!” Clare Bekkers
Object Description
Title | The Extraordinary: A StFX Newsletter from the Office of the President. Third Issue (2016-05-11) |
Subject | St. Francis Xavier University |
Description | A StFX Newsletter from the Office of the President of St. Francis Xavier University. Third issue, May 2016. |
Creator | Kent MacDonald; Office of the President of St. Francis Xavier University |
Digital Publisher | St. Francis Xavier University |
Date | 2016-05 |
Type | Text |
Format | application/pdf |
Identifier | xtxx |
Source | Electronic copy supplied by the Office of the President of St. Francis Xavier University |
Language | en |
Coverage | Antigonish |
Rights | Permission granted by the President of St. Francis Xavier to add digital newsletter to repository |
Audience | General Public |
Date-Created | 2016-06-07 |
Date-Issued | 2015-05 |
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/ |
Rights-Rights Holder | St. Francis Xavier University |
Repository | St. Francis Xavier University Digital Collections |
Collection | StFX University Public Documents and Reports |
Rating |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Transcript | extraordinary THE CELEBRATING SUCCESS AT STFX The weather gods toyed with us all spring: intense sunlight was interspersed with gales of wind lifting barbecues off lawns, and mud puddles that destroyed even the hardiest of trendy bootware. Nominations to the President’s Council of Young Alumni were made; final papers edited; and nightmares of lab exams finally ceased dancing in students’ heads. They were replaced with the hush of exam season, when the necessity of study was challenged by a yearning to toss one last Frisbee with friends or make one last trek to the Dairy Queen. And now, our seniors have graduated and left, carrying StFX with them and making room for new leaders to emerge. The campus is quiet – too quiet. Kent Anyone passing through the SUB on Monday, March 14, couldn’t miss it: a giant wall of brightly-coloured post-its, on which people were writing the things that had made them happy that day. The sentiments ranged from the mundane (“We got McDonalds for breakfast!” and “Being early when I thought I was late.”) to the commonplace (there were lots of “Coffee!” stickies) to the deeply personal (“I’m Muslim and I pray 5x/day. That’s the secret to happiness. Trust me.”). The wall was the brainchild of students Clare Bekkers, Emily MacDonald, Siobhan Morris, and Ian Townsend. They wanted to see how many people they could reach on campus, but thought the project should be essentially devoid of technology. MacDonald notes: “People tend to focus on negative things, and it throws off your whole day. We wanted to switch that thinking.” And, Bekkers added, “we wanted it to be a bit mysterious – to pique people’s interest.” The reaction, the team notes, was overwhelmingly positive. As students and other members of the StFX community passed by, they spent time reading the wall of notes before contributing themselves. In total, more than 400 people contributed to the wall – over 2000 stickies in all. The best part, notes Bekkers, is the snowball effect: “As people read the wall, they got more and more happy!” Reading about others’ happiness produced a positive reaction in the audience, and for the project’s creators. Now, they say, they can appreciate happy moments when they happen, and MacDonald comments that the project brought her closer to the friends and family she asked to contribute stickies. Their next steps are to continue promoting happiness through the Humans of StFX site, and they’d like to keep the wall up permanently – so everyone on campus can be reminded, daily, of the things that make them happy. A StFX NEWSLETTER FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT extraordinary THE 1 ISSUE 3 “As people read the wall, they got more and more happy!” Clare Bekkers |
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