Corey Barton’s laugh and positive outlook on everything is contagious. You’re adorable!
Megan Armstrong, every time we talk I’m blown away by your constant pursuit to be a better person. You inspire me to be better as well.
Courtney Galvin is one awesome human being. I am so glad I have gotten to know her. Her smile and caring attitude go a long way! love ya!
In September, when four Queen University students in Kingston, Ontario, Canada felt the pressures of getting back into the swing of all things academic, they thought of an idea that would sweep college campuses around the US, including UT and USF. Juniors Erica Gagne, Jessica Jonker, Rachel Albi, and Amanda Smurthwaite were inspired to create a page on Facebook dubbed Queens U Compliments to lift their spirits while simultaneously creating a positive and tight-knit community on their campus. Students anonymously send in their compliments—see examples above—with the person’s name tagged in the post.
“We were all sitting around sad in our apartment in September. We had amazing summers and school work was piling up,” Gagne typed in a Facebook message. “We wanted to do something happy for ourselves but would also make other people happy so we came up with this idea. An idea similar to ours had been done at Rachel’s high school but was unsuccessful. We wanted to try it at the university level.”
To get the page going, the girls complimented their friends and soon after everyone caught on, sending in their compliments and spreading the wealth of random kindness and positivity.
“It probably took about a month to become popular and then the popularity exploded after we did the interview for TIME,” Gagne said. The founders of the compliments page did an interview with TIME magazine in November about the success of the page. It averages about 50 compliments per day but according to Gagne, that is only a rough estimate.
The idea of being able to brighten someone’s day with just a few words motivated over 150 universities to do the same. Columbia University, Yale University, George Washington University and Rutgers are four of the many universities that now have compliments pages. The pages run counter to the belittling and degradation of cyber bullying. This trend, participants say, centers on the good aspects of people, instead of exploiting their weaknesses and bashing them.
“We really do believe that it has changed the atmosphere of campuses and the mental health of students for the better,” Gagne typed.
Brian Doyle, a sophomore at the George Washington University, holds the same sentiment as the four creators of the Queens U page. Doyle was inspired to start a compliments page when he saw Tulane University’s page while perusing the web. As soon as he saw it, he thought it would be a great asset to the GW community.
“I didn’t really advertise it actually. People started inviting others to like the page and it spread from there,” he explained via Facebook.
“The page became popular in just a few days. As most social movements go, it started out fast and peaked— and is now on a steady— but slow rise every now and then. But it didn’t take too long to get to about 1,000 likes, which is crazy. I don’t really care about the likes—it’s the compliments that matter and that is making people happy,” he continued.
In some cases, students acknowledge an organization’s assistance on campus, as seen on the GW Compliments page:
Thank you to everyone in the Student Association who has made this a year of transparency, communication, and accomplishments. You personally invited the student body to become more actively engaged in change around campus and have set our community on a bright path to unity and pride. RAISE HIGH!
In our own community, some UT students have submitted compliments to the Tampa Compliments page, owned by a student at UT, who wishes to remain anonymous for the sake of focusing solely on the compliments. Students have submitted compliments to praise a peer’s character, or to simply express gratitude for being present in their life:
Claire Handville is awesome! She’s a sweet girl and a great addition to UT!
Brianna Claire is an amazing person from Pittsburgh. I am proud to call her my friend.
Trinity Morgan is an amazing person, wonderful dancer, and a great friend.
Tampa Compliments isn’t as popular as the other pages (it only has 365 friends), but the founder expressed, via Facebook, the hopes of the movement spreading throughout the campus.
Dr. Aymee Coget, sustainable happiness expert, CEO of the American Happiness Association, and owner of an international practice based in San Francisco, where she teaches the science of happiness, explained that while the Facebook Compliments pages are a worthwhile feat, there is more progress to be made to experience the full effect of happiness.
Complimenting and building social structures in place like this is a step toward happiness, yet far from the solution,” Dr. Coget said.
“There are many aspects needed to experience frequent positive mood, resiliency, inner contentment/fulfillment and bliss/joy. Each type of happiness has its own prized skills and techniques to develop and sustain. Happiness can make or break any environment. This is the difference between liking to attend class to performing well in class. Happiness can be the switch between a positive and negative experience overall,” Dr. Coget continued.
The positivity movement hasn’t come to a halt with the compliments pages. Brian Doyle, owner of the GW Compliments page, also brought the “Before I Die” wall to his campus.
Creator Candy Chang developed the global art project when she lost a loved one. With the help of her friends, she painted on the wall of an abandoned house in her New Orleans neighborhood. The phrase “Before I die I want to” is stenciled up and down the wall. Chalk is provided for anyone walking near the area to document their childhood dreams, aspirations and life-long goals.
“She had such enthusiasm and such a deep passion for the Wall’s message and meaning and so I immediately fell in love with the project and knew I wanted to bring it to GW,” says Doyle.
Doyle started a Facebook page to see if the idea of bringing the wall would be well-received by some students.
“The next morning there were over 400 people in support and the journey just took off from there,” Doyle said.
He worked with the administration at GW and student leaders to develop a plan to get the wall approved on campus.
“I had to lay out a detailed plan of what the wall would look like, how it would be physically created, and how I would plan for its longevity. The whole process took about 3-4 months,” Doyle said.
The unveiling took place on Jan. 22 in the Kogan Plaza on the GW campus. Chang made a guest appearance to talk in front of the wall and interact with the students. Their contributions include:
Before I die I want to live for my Dad. I miss you.
Before I die I want to make up for lost time.
Before I die I want to feel the most pure form of love.
“My proudest moment throughout bringing the Wall to GW would probably be when the first group of students began to write on it — it lit up. The Wall ignited with dreams and color and I was just so overwhelmed after so much hard work had come to fruition for the benefit of the GW community,” Doyle said.
Wow! Such a great article! There is so much to be done in college but when students do things like this, take a leadership role and become active in inciting positive change on their campus, I am truly impressed! I know I would’ve loved to have been complimented this way when I was a student. Keep up the good work UT! Keep writing great articles Zoe!