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Inspirational signs help lift spirits of students, community

Community sign
Randy Barber

En Español

Every day as students and staff make their way to Manhattan Middle School in Boulder, they are greeted by a simple handmade wooden sign that has the ability to turn frowns upside down.

“I hear people talking about it at school,” said Sofia Roberts, an eighth grader at Manhattan. “They're like, ‘I walked to school today, and I saw the strangest sign. It made me smile.’”

Located at the corner of Manhattan Drive and Iroquois Drive, near the entrance to the school and its very busy parking lot, it simply reads “You are the light, turn on your switch, shine.”

It is just one of several signs created by Sofia, her twin brother Blake and their nextdoor neighbor on the corner, Raj Rawat.

“It is something that brings joy to people,” explained Blake. 

“Sometimes when I walk by and maybe I’ve had a bad day at school, I see the signs and I”m like ‘I did that. It even works for me,” he added, proudly.

A sign of hope during difficult times
Starting in 2020, shortly after the beginning of the pandemic, the families started the effort that they would later coin the Good Words Project.

“During COVID, [my wife, Rachna, and I] started noticing that people were going into their silos and being isolated,” Rawat said. We felt very deeply that these two beautiful children, who were always upbeat and polite and very courteous, didn't go into that kind of a space.”

The Rawats came up with the idea of rescuing the kids from the virtual world by quarantining together and collaborating on a hands-on project.

“I spoke with [the twins’ dad] Brendan and was like, ‘yeah, we're game.’ So they showed up, and we took pallets and separated the slats,” Raj said.

“That was one of the blessings of COVID. We all got to be together all day, every day,” Brendan said.

“The kids jumped right into it and Brendan was there keeping an eye on them,” Raj added.

“We used a mixture of techniques,” remembered Sofia.

They used a drill press to carve out different, carefully-selected words on different slats and then sanded and painted the signs.

“We made a whole plan in the basement,” Blake recalled. “We thought about the words we were going to use. We then thought about how we could make them pop.”

And it worked, from the very first sign, which read, “You’re Awesome.” The signs have had an uncanny ability to stop folks in their tracks, even if they’re running.

“I was walking and saw a jogger from a distance. She stopped and started jogging in place, while looking at that sign. She smiled and then she resumed,” Raj remembered. “That's happened multiple times.”

“There are a ton of people that come running through here [on the way to and from the recreation center] and they all take a good look and often make a few comments as they pass, morning and night every day,” Brendan added. “It's still going on.”

“Sometimes grandparents will stop and they'll talk to their grandchildren around it,” he added. 

“Many people have taken photographs of it,” Raj said. “Our neighbors know and will often say, ‘We saw somebody else take a photo today. It is so gratifying to see that these signs have become an object of discussion.”

“COVID was a time of darkness for a lot of people,” Raj continued. “You have to look through the dark to find your way out. We may never know how much light a little sign provided somebody to find their way out of the darkness that they were in on that day.” 

While it has been nearly five years since COVID came to Colorado, the signs continue to speak to passersby.

“The signs remind us of our humanity. That's very good because all of us are going through challenges of our own,” said Raj, an author who also works to provide encouragement through his book titled “Find Your Everest”.

Simply passing by the messages can lift spirits or provide a moment of serenity during a hectic schedule.

For instance, the “Breathe” sign is perfectly positioned to be seen by Manhattan Middle School parents as they wait along the street to pick up their children after school.

“I saw a mother in a rush. She saw the sign and it was like, ‘thank you,’” Rachna Rawat said. 

The families, however, say their favorite sign isn’t in the Rawat’s front yard.

“The best sign is a sign that Sofia came up with,” Raj said. “She came up with ‘Dance.’ When we got to the coloring part, she chose a light blue sparkling color for it. It was the best looking sign.”

While it is now on display at Sofia and Blake’s grandparents house in New Jersey, its message is still an important one for all of us to remember.

“I think ‘Dance’ is to be carefree. Do not worry about, ‘How do I look today?’ ‘How do people think of me?’ and to just relax for a second,” Sofia said.

As the families gathered before Winter Break to take a photo next to their “Imagine” sign they reflected on the fact that they never could have imagined the impact of their Good Words Project.

“These signs are the light that originated from the darkness of the hardships of COVID. We've been very fortunate and are grateful for the joy brought by this project,” Raj said. 

 


 

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