About

  • Who
    • Started through the future project NEST+M chapter, it was founded in September of 2017 with the help of Benjamin Kimmerle (the school’s former Dream Director). After it gained traction, the project began to grow and branch out into a team of 15 who’s jobs were to get the message of the project out and to play in active role in redistribution. The team took shifts and volunteered for several hours at a time in order to sift through the letters and to package them in individualized envelopes that each listed the name of one student or staff member in NEST+M’s Upper Grades (9-12th grades). Over 600 students and teachers received letters on 02/14/18 in order to embrace the idea of self-love and as an initiative to encourage each student to empathize with one another.
  • What
    • Project Noted was an idea that spread into NEST+M’s Upper Grade’s English classrooms.
  • Where
    • This happened at Nest+M, a high school located on the Lower East Side, a neighborhood in Manhattan, NYC.
  • When 
    • The project began in September of 2017 and continues to find new ways to reach out to students.
  • Why/How 
    • Project Noted was born from a need for the spread of empathy. After hearing a lot of self deprecation jokes and after a period of reflection, I began to think about what I could do in order to change the ways in which people perceive themselves and those around them. I had a really difficult time transitioning into high school and I always felt alone in my thoughts. Often times, I found myself getting lost in them, especially in moments when I found myself to be physically alone. At the same time, my best friend had attempted suicide and it struck a chord in me as I thought to myself, “What if I knew she wasn’t alone? ” I began to think about how I could find someone to relate to, in hopes of having an easier time. I began to take the train with different friends and when our phone signals went out, it became the perfect time to share how we were feeling and to be vulnerable with one another. My friends’ openness made me realize that everyone has a story they want to share,but they just may not know how they want to share it or with whom. After giving it some thought, I realized that the best idea was to offer my peers the opportunity to write letters which would be addressed to anonymous readers and would remain as anonymous as the author wished to keep it. We gave students a vague prompt asking them to write about either a struggle they faced/are facing and how they plan on overcoming it and/or what advice would you give to someone who is struggling. As I conducted the letter writing process in classrooms I was shocked to see how many students willingly partook in the process. Those who I’d expected to shy away from the opportunity to be vulnerable were the first to hand in letters that were multiple pages long which talked about their insecurities and how they struggled to get over them. The team and I then took those letters and over the course of 3 months sifted through each one and packed them in envelopes that were labeled for each individual student.  During this process we were approached by many students who had asked to get their letters back because they felt as though they shared too much and chose to rewrite their letters anonymously. It was touching to know that so many people used this as a positive outlet for their emotions.
THE OUTCOME On February 14th, the letters were redistributed to every student and staff member. The next morning during the first instructional period, I was asked to immediately report to the guidance counselor’s office. In that moment, I thought I was in trouble because maybe we had released a letter that contained disturbing content. In that moment, I became extremely worried and walked into the office nearly trembling. As I walked into the office I was greeted by my crying guidance counselor and her open arms reaching for a hug. As she sat me down she began to thank me for Project Noted and said that groups of students had been visiting her office all of the previous day and telling her that the letter which they received had made them feel heard, understood, and important. I sat there listening to her as she shared this pleasant surprise with me. She later went on to tell me that the letters which had been redistributed to the staff had brought many teachers to tears. Teachers came to visit her throughout the day in tears as they felt touched by the letters they received. I had no idea that this would be the outcome of Project Noted, but I am so glad that it was. My guidance counselor, who was helping me through a lot of what was hurting me previously told me that she was extremely proud that I was able to turn a painful experience into something beautiful that made it easier for other people to feel less defined by their struggles.I am so glad that my work was able to help so many people and I hope that I can continue to reach out to more people.