When the students in the School of Science want to share a joke or, for finals week, some words of encouragement, they leave a personalized Post-It note in the breezeway at the east end of Otto Behrend Science Building.
Passing notes in school used to mean folding a sheet of paper into a triangle and flicking it to a friend in the next row.
Students in the School of Science at Penn State Behrend have developed a more engaging method: When they want to share a joke or, for finals week, some words of encouragement, they leave a personalized Post-It note in the breezeway at the east end of Otto Behrend Science Building. The glass walls have become an “attaboy” and “attagirl” bulletin board, crowded with colorful, science-joke notes.
“At our first Science Ambassadors meeting of the year, we discussed doing something fun to brighten up the science buildings,” said Lauren Barmore, a senior majoring in Biology, who helped spearhead the project.
The students who wrote the initial notes—Barmore, Taylor Romania, Briona Bargerstock, and Jacob Kessler—penned notes that reflected on the material taught in the School of Science.
“A lot of our professors put jokes and memes into their learning materials,” Barmore said. “We were sort of influenced by them.”
A similar display of sticky notes can be found in a stairwell at Behrend’s Reed Union Building. That project, which began several years ago, is maintained by students in the Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) club. A box with blank notes and pens is an invitation for others to add sentiments, jokes, and quotes to the wall.
“I love taking notes from the RAK stairwell and giving them to my friends before exams, if they were having a rough day, or needed a laugh,” Barmore said. “I’ve found that the smallest acts of empathy or service can have a big effect on people. We wanted to bring some of that color and joy to our side of campus.”
3M, the original creator of the Post-It note, saw a story about the science note wall online and sent the Science Ambassadors a care package of Post-It notes so they have plenty more to continue spreading kindness.