Mirror motivation
Melanie Rittierodt, a senior at Evergreen Lutheran High School, Tacoma, Wash., felt motivated to uplift the girls at her school, and it all started with a Pinterest post. Rittierodt saw a post on her newsfeed about a motivational mirror and decided to start one in the girl’s bathroom at her school.
“I just wanted to show my love for my Savior,” says Rittierodt, a member at Light of Life, Covington, Wash. “And I wanted to show the girls that sometimes the simplest ways to lift someone up are through what you write and what you see.”
Rittierodt recruited girls in her class to help write encouraging words on sticky notes to post on the mirror. The notes include anything from Bible passages to inspirational quotes and sayings. Instructions on the mirror tell girls to take a note if they want it and to add new notes as well. Although it started out with just the senior girls writing messages, it has expanded to include notes from other people, including visitors from other schools.
Ted Klug, principal at Evergreen Lutheran High School, said he has seen a positive impact from the motivational mirror all throughout the school.
“In the midst of this storm of life called high school, sometimes the biggest foe to a teenager is the mirror,” Klug says. “But as [teenagers] grow and change, a few things stay the same—God’s love for them and his Word.”
In the fall, Rittierodt is going to San Diego State University, but she says she hopes students continue to post encouraging notes after she graduates.
And she wants to start a new motivational mirror at her college. “I’m hoping this will help me proclaim my faith more and use the gifts that God gave me,” she says.
Gabriella Moline
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Volume 104, Number 6
Issue: June 2017
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