ACTON — What started as a small project, posting compliments and positive messages in a girl’s bathroom at Acton Elementary School, has blossomed to include the entire school.

Now, students and staff who walk down the hall past the school library can peer at the wall to look for a message directed squarely at them.

It all started with Baileigh McGoon and Hannah Miller, who were among 10 members of a literature circle within their language arts class, reading the book “Skinny,” by Donna Cooner that addresses themes of self esteem and beauty being more than skin deep. The two girls, along with friend Chelsey Smith, who will be reading the book in an upcoming literature circle, discussed the themes and then borrowed an idea they’d heard about from a friend in the Yarmouth school district.

A couple of months ago, they started posting messages on the mirror of the girl’s bathroom in the junior high school wing of the elementary school ”“ messages like “your eyes are beautiful,” “you’re having a good hair day” and “keep your head up.” Those messages weren’t aimed at anyone specifically, they were general notes of encouragement.

The notes were so well-received, the girls decided to expand the project, this time using students’ first names.

“The three girls came to me and wanted to go school-wide. They wanted everyone to have their own (note),” said education technician Michelle Rainaud.

So they gave all the teachers enough sticky notes for all 210 students and each member of the staff, from lunch ladies to teachers, and each person wrote a message. In the case of kindergarten and the early grades, the teachers did the writing for the students.

“It took them three weeks to come back to us, and we sorted them out and counted to make sure everyone had a message,” said Miller.

Then came the task of posting the messages.

By the time they were sorted and posted, four hours had passed. But the hard work paid off.

“There’s nothing like seeing students stop to see their name, or their friend’s name,” said Rainaud. “I heard a sixth-grader say, ”˜I didn’t know so-and-so felt that way about me.’”

And then, of course, are the notes that were composed by some very little children.

One younger child, said Smith, wrote, “I like you because you don’t stick your tongue out.”

“It was fun putting them up, and seeing how people appreciated what we were doing,” said McGoon.

“When we collected the notes, the teachers said it was a good way to build self confidence,” said Smith.

Principal Tricia Boivin agreed, “It’s a wonderful project,” she said.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, Ext. 327 or [email protected].