#postitproject aims to brighten students' day through sticky notes

Students at high schools in St. John's are using post-it notes to make people's Monday a little more positive.

It's called the Post-It Project, and is the brainchild of the brand new, student-led Metro Youth Mental Health Committee (MYMHC).

Through the project, thousands of high school students will find sticky notes on their lockers Monday morning, with positive messages written on them meant to brighten up their day.

Two members of the committee, Patrick Hickey and Simon Henley, were busy over the weekend getting the notes ready.

"We put up 3,000 in one stint yesterday, and we put up another 1,000 this morning," Hickey told CBC's St. John's Morning Show.

"They're all positive messages, little messages of encouragement, just something to pick you up on a Monday morning."

Bishops College, Booth Memorial, Gonzaga, Holy Heart, Holy Spirit, Mount Pearl Senior High, St. Bon's and St. Kevin's are all participating in the project.

Simon Henley said a student recently suggested the idea and the committee liked it so much they decided to run with it.

"In one of our meetings a few months ago one of our delegates from Holy Heart, Grace King, came up with this and pitched it to us and we kinda ran with it from there because it was such a great idea," he said.

The project was off to a good start on Monday, with hundreds of students taking to social media to show off the messages found on their lockers.

The group hopes to combat anxiety in schools, which they believe is on the rise.

"Anxiety is pretty big these days," said Hickey.

"We've done a survey at Holy Heart, and a majority of our students felt that they've suffered anxiety at least once while at school or due to school-related issues."

Hickey said that while seeing a message on their locker that says something like "be happy", or "you're worth it" will far from cure those anxieties, MYMHC hopes that it will at least improve people's moodeven if just for a moment.

"Obviously a post-it note is not going to cure any mental health problems you may be having," he said.

"It's just sort of a simple step forward that hopefully will cheer people up on a Monday."