Beta Phi Sigma brings smiles to Baruch students

Operation Beautiful was in full effect on Valentine's Day in VC 3-415 in the Vertical Campus. This event was hosted by Beta Phi Sigma sorority.

All around Baruch, students found post-it notes with meaningful messages that were meant to elicit a smile.

 Some of the messages included "you are perfect just the way you are," "when you smile it brightens my day," or, "smile even if your heart is breaking." Many others included song lyrics.

Sorority sisters Amanda Santiago and Yasmin Naupari hosted the event since Rush Chair Johanna Mendez was unable to attend.

Beta Phi Sigma's event began when the room was divided into smaller groups.

Each group comprised of at least one student from each race, along with a sorority sister. Jillian O'Rourke asserted, "we are not raising money, it's just to help people smile." Yasmin Naupari adds that the operation is "a great way to get to know each other."

An array of topics were discussed, from movies that were filmed at Baruch, including Step Up 3 and Nurse Jackie, to the Vagina Monologue auditions.

When it came time to find locations to place the notes, no area was off limits, including the gym locker-room and the boy's bathroom.

Sorority sister O'Rourke stated, "Boys can feel beautiful too. We can't discriminate." As they began writing the notes, empowering female songs such as Kelly Clarkson's "What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)," Beyoncé's "Run the World," and Christina Aguilera's "Fighter" were played in the background.  

A shared reaction among the sorority sisters were, "Not everyone has a valentines," and they hoped an anonymous note would achieve a certain reaction, "I saw this post-it, it made my day today," said Naupari.

Naupari insists on strengthening women's mentality, a sentiment shared among the BPS sorority.

Operation Beautiful reminds sorority sister O'Rourke to "Post a Secret," where people write anonymous messages about themselves, which allows the individual an outlet to express themselves.

On operationalbeautiful.com, people can e-mail photographs of post-its and write about their personal experiences.  

Caitlin Boyle, editor of OperationBeautiful.com, began scribbling reinforcing notes and posting them in restrooms, grocery stores, and at work.

Boyle writes, "Negative self-talk hurts everyone emotionally, physically and spiritually." Operation Beautiful aims to end toxic self-talk among girls from ages eight to 14, and help rebuild self-confidence.

The writing process itself is meant to benefit the writer and reader, Jasmin Cheung, a member of the sorority said, "As you are writing the positive message yourself, you also feel positive."

Naupari hopes that the easy process of note posting inspires others to take the time and post a note in public places. Originally, BPS planned on posting notes outside the school, but due to time constraints post-its were limited to inside.

Santiago wanted everyone to remember that Beta Phi Sigma was all about diversity and unity. She emphasized that their motto was to be "strong, passionate intellectuals."