Alice Elliott, Community High School senior, recently started the Wall of Love at CHS. The idea, originally found on the Internet by Huron student Ryan Hibbs, is to put compliments about people on a piece of paper in a public place where they can see them. The compliments are written anonymously “like, ‘such-and-such … helped me out in math class’ … stuff like that,” Elliott said.

To spread the word, Elliott “used Facebook mostly, and … told a bunch of people about it. But it was mostly Facebook, which got a surprising [amount] of attention.” This seems to have worked, because on its first day, the Wall of Love gathered over 10 compliments from students.

Elliott is interested in what Community students come up with for the Wall. “I’m

hoping to see some really creative compliments. Like specific things, [such as] ‘I like this person because they’re responsible and organized,’ or, ‘this person was a really great costumer’ or something like that. Not just the generic, they’re really pretty.”

The Wall of Love was present on Community’s second floor ledge during lunch from Tuesday, April 26th until Friday, April 29th. Unfortunately, the Wall of Love cannot actually stay in CHS hallways, although it may be hung up in the Media Center.

Elliott’s biggest worry for the event is that “people would start writing obnoxious stuff on it, or people [will] write things that could be misunderstood, as insults or whatever. And that’s actually why Dean Jen didn’t want me hanging it up on a wall anywhere … This is something … that the Dean said to me, and I agree with her, that since there are people’s names associated with this, it could deteriorate into some sort of bullying factor,” she said.

However, Elliott thinks that the Wall of Love is more likely to succeed at CHS than at other schools. “I feel like [the students are] much more connected here.” Elliott thinks that at CHS, students will be much more involved, as well as less likely to use it to bully or hurt others. “People know each other here. And it’s just a good thing to do, I think it [will] make people feel better about themselves,” she said.