As winter takes hold over upstate New York, a group of students set out to brighten up Binghamton.
Brighten Up Binghamton, also known as the Post-it Project, is a mission to spread positivity and kindness on campus. Nina Abrahams and Danielle Bayer were co-chairs and started Brighten Up Binghamton to do little things to improve campus morale.
“Something small can make someone’s day so much better than it was,” said Abrahams, a freshman majoring in human development.
Around 20 volunteers made around 200 inspirational notes on Nov. 12 and then placed them in various public places around campus. Notes were placed in dining halls and Lecture Hall.
“We wanted to put them in a place where everyone walks through — such as the lecture hall, library, dining halls etc,” Bayer wrote in an email.
The Leadership Team, a group formed this year by Maya Yair, a senior majoring in political science, requires members to organize an event. Bayer used this opportunity to try to make campus a happier place.
“Brighten up Bing is an effort to spread more joy and boost self-confidence all over campus,” wrote Bayer, an undeclared freshman.
The Leadership Team attempted to reach as many students as possible with its notes.
“I was having a bad day, and seeing those notes definitely made me feel better,” said Patrick Kranz, a freshman majoring in biochemistry.
The Leadership Team invited other groups to come help make notes, including Active Minds and Rainbow Pride Union. Abrahams and Bayer printed out funny or inspirational quotes for volunteers to choose from or allowed people to choose their own words of encouragement.
“The notes are very cute,” said Jessica Weller, a sophomore majoring in psychology. “I think it’s good because sometimes people need encouragement and also handwriting seems personal.”
Abrahams came up with the idea to leave Post-it notes from her positive experiences of sending letters to her friends.
“I got this idea when I used to send snail mail to my friends,” Abrahams said. “I felt so important, someone’s writing something handwritten for you. I wanted to share that with people here.”
According to Yair, the mission was not without obstacles, as some of the notes left in Lecture Hall were taken down by cleaning staff the night they were left.
“Unfortunately, some of the notes got taken down,” Yair said. “But I think it’s been really successful in the dining halls.”
Abrahams and Yair at first attempted to keep Brighten Up Binghamton as anonymous as possible.
“We don’t want to take credit for it, because we just want it to brighten people’s day,” Yair said. “We don’t want people to think it’s for one group.”
Yair and the co-chairs of the event wanted the notes to reach everyone and bring general positivity to campus.
“Anyone could do it,” Abrahams said. “It shouldn’t matter who leaves the notes.”
While Brighten Up Binghamton started off as a single mission, Yair was not opposed to putting up another batch of notes.
“If people really like it we can do it again,” Yair said. “We still have a lot of Post-its.”
The main theme of the notes is to keep a healthy and positive mindset and to not become absorbed by stress.
The project was originally started as an anonymous venture, but the creators ultimately decided to reveal their identities.
“Maya, Danielle and I decided together that it is more important to bring awareness to the issue of mental health and remind people the significance of brightening up people’s days by doing little things but be recognized in the article, rather than being anonymous and not talking about the main point,” Abrahams wrote in an email.
Overall, Yair thought the venture was a success.
“In a project like this, it is really impossible to know how many people you have affected. However, if it made one person smile, I’d say we accomplished our goal,” Yair wrote.