When Maytal Michaelov, a Grade 12 student at Westmount Collegiate, was given an assignment to raise awareness of a world issue, she chose instead to follow the mantra, “think globally, act locally.”
Michaelov decided to raise money for “To Write Love on Her Arms,” which is dedicated to helping teenagers dealing with depression and addiction — and raised $400 for her project.
Her real accomplishment, however, is a project called Post Secret, which she hopes will tackle those issues at her own school and in her own community.
Michaelov’s inspiration for the project came from the website of the same name (postsecret.com) where individuals mail in anonymous postcards to be posted on the website, often containing secrets, but frequently bearing words of comfort and advice.
“To see someone else’s secret up there,” she says, “gives you a sense of belonging … makes you feel that there is someone to relate to.”
Michaelov, an avid follower of the website realized how powerful the project was when she was was experiencing her own schoolinduced stress and fell upon a postcard reading: “Embrace life, as it is the best gift given to you.” “It was the most amazing thing I’d ever read,” she asserts. “It motivated me when I felt incredibly lost."
\Michaelov knew that if she could find comfort in the advice of strangers, certainly other high schoolers could as well. She especially wanted to knock down any misconceptions about teenagers in her area as middle and upper class kids without a care.
“People put on a mask and face the world everyday,” she says. “Depression, suicide and addiction are issues facing everyone.”
Michaelov sold postcards at school for 75 cents (with all proceeds going to To Write Love on Her Arms) with instructions to fill out the back with a message of hope, inspiration, or advice, and hide the postcard in one of the library’s most popular books.
The project was an immense success. Once people submitted their Post Secrets, they kept coming back to buy another. The project also garnered attention from the wider GTA student population. Through a facebook group, more and more students from outside of Westmount supported the project and donated to the cause.
Michaelov has plenty of dreams for the future of Post Secret at Westmount. She hopes to see the project grow and continue, and that in ten years, there will be new postcards floating around the books of the library.
Michaelov will be attending York University next year. She plans to continue to think global and act local throughout the rest of her studies, especially by establishing Post Secret-like projects at school.
Everywhere people deal with feelings of sadness, loneliness and uncertainty, she says.
“People are suffering from these issues all over the world, so why not help the ones closest to us also?”
The Post salutes Maytal Michaelov for working to build an open, safe communications network through Post Secret for her peers.