On Monday, February 27th, two Masters students in social work (MSW), Sarah Stridivant and Jay Sherman, were looking to spread a little love on campus.
Yesterday afternoon, students walking around the brickyard were met with two smiling faces and a large, colorful, circular chalk drawing. This large chalk drawing pictured in the photo above wasn’t charged with some sort of political or controversial message, like students are usually exposed to here on campus – it was simply a place for students to express what they are thankful for in chalk writing within the circle.
The circle was filled with all sorts of colors and various things, people, and places that students were thankful for. People filling up the Brickyard drawing with their many gratifications wrote things like “God”, “family”, “my friends”, “the sun”, and even “my cat”.
When the MSW students were asked why they were doing this, they expressed that the motive for the chalking event wasn’t for any sort of club or campus organization. Sarah Stirdivant put it simply, “[we are out here to] spread positivity”. When Sherman was prompted to elaborate on the purpose of the event, he said the motive was to be, “…getting people to reflect on what’s good in life”.
This chalking event in front of D.H. Hill library was done simply out of the goodness of these student’s hearts. It is very important to remind people about the joys of life and the things they should be thankful for. Gratitude is vital to understanding what in life is meaningful. Seeing individuals step outside and put a thoughtful, genuine smile on their face to cheer up and encourage NC State students and prompt them to contemplate what they are thankful for is inspiring to say the least.
