CLARIFICATION: This article’s headline and photo incorrectly implied Project Hello Stranger had initiated contact with the Help Center. The student group hopes to partner with the Help Center in the future to hold similar initiatives. The Help Center is also the group that holds free-hug events. This article has been changed to reflect this clarification.
Say hello to Project Hello Stranger — a new student group hoping to promote a happier, friendlier campus.
A handful of students launched the group this semester to break down walls built by competition and stress, factors members said have become commonplace in the university environment. At its first general body meeting two weeks ago, items on the agenda included turning frowns upside down, saying hello to strangers and “elevating happiness” through the simple things.
“We are all Terps, and we all have shells that we need to break,” said project co-founder and co-president Omeed Sizar, a senior biology and Persian studies major.
Sizar hatched the idea for the group after he accidentally fell asleep in an evolution class and found it difficult to overcome the social barriers between complete strangers to ask for the notes he missed.
“If I ask the girl next to me, it’s likely she’ll think I’m hitting on her, and between guys, it’s just not socially acceptable,” he said.
The team, clad in bright, sunny “Project Hello Stranger” T-shirts, plans to give out free hugs and high-fives at major campus hubs, distribute free umbrellas on rainy days and pass out balloons throughout the campus.
The items will be customized with inspirational messages — for example, umbrellas will contain inspirational quotes and directions to pass them on to someone else.
“Being happier and friendlier is spiritual in many ways — you have to give up some part of your ego and recognize that there is something more, something bigger and something better,” said Sizar, who is also the co-president of a complementary medicine group on the campus. “Generally, the way you interact with people is a reflection of your internal state.”
Several students said Project Hello Stranger’s mission will likely resonate across the campus.
“On such a huge campus, I think a lot of us can feel isolated,” group board member and sophomore English major Katie Boeckl said. “Here, the power of a smile or a hug can go a long way. It’s such an easy thing to do to brighten someone else’s day.”
During finals week, group members plan to stand outside major lecture halls and allow students to hit them with water balloons, Sizar said. The organization also plans to hold workshops to explain the health benefits of smiling.
Although Project Hello Stranger has not yet secured funding, members hope to partner with the Help Center and other groups on the campus that have worked to chip away at social barriers in the university community.
“I’d love to see a campus radiated with happiness,” Sizar said. “We shouldn’t have to have a group like this on campus. This should be part of our daily routine, as much as holding the door open for a person behind us is. We are a campus community — something more than campus gear should unite us.”
