As a member of a SLU here at OWU, I am required to do a House Project every year. Like for every member of the SLU community, the House Project has to be in some way related to the House's mission statement and the member's personal beliefs.

Last year, I hosted a panel with a variety of female professors at the university, as space for them to talk about their experiences with feminism in the academic world and what they had faced growing up. It was successful and incredibly eye-opening, but I have decided to go a different route this year.

For the week February 13th-17th, I will be tabling for this year's House Project:

Self-Love Celebration Week!

I will be tabling in the Atrium of the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center with a banner for anyone to write their favorite thing about themselves, whiteboards with dry-erase markers to take pictures and post them on social media, and strips of paper with positive affirmations and statistics to hand out.

The reason I chose this project, and more specifically to do it during this date, is due to the fact that it is Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day is infamously known as a day to please your partner or make you feel lonely if you don't have one. Recently, strides have been made to change the public perception of the holiday into something else, like Galentine's Day from Parks and Recreation, but February 14th is still a day couples celebrate and singles spend in PJs or with other single friends while wishing they were with someone else.

Personally, I have never spent a Valentine's Day with a significant other (even last year, the first year I had one!) and I think the whole notion is ridiculous.

I went to a Catholic school my entire life, and February 14th was always called "The Day of Friendship" but there was an underlying expectation of someone to just randomly express their undying love for you on that very day. It became a casual day and everyone wore pink or red, we had little valentines for all our classmates and our teachers gave us candy. There were activities sponsored by the Student Council more often than not, and it never felt like a real day.

And while there WERE couples that got together on that day, it never felt real. People walked around with big, fluffy stuffed animals and candy, hoping to catch the attention of their crush as that person tried to catch the attention of THEIR crush. A mess, as always.

What I want to do with my project is bring the focus into introspection. Many people in our generation are incredibly self-deprecating and have low self-esteem, and making them think about things they like about themselves brings that to their attention. And people should always have their worth in their mind.

Be happy, be yourself, and stop by my table to sign the banner!