Happy Black Friday! For this Thanksgiving edition of Feel-Good Friday, a young girl gives the gift of words to her school and ignites what could become a movement. Fifteen-year-old Keyla Castro wanted to be the change she wished to see in her world, and she did it, one Post-It note at a time. 

A local teen is proving that making a difference can start small and grow exponentially.

That’s exactly what happened to Keyla Castro at Foley High School when she started a positive affirmation wall in the girl’s bathroom.

We sat down with Castro. She’s only 15, but she’s on a mission.

“I think the wall has only been three or four days in total but it’s huge- it’s amazing,” she said. “Instead of seeing all the negativity around, I just wanted to bring something-- a light into the school.”

Her vision started with sticky notes and markers.

Unlike the 2016 use of Post-It notes where New York subway-riding progressives vented their frustrations over Donald Trump's election win, Castro's artistry was all about selflessness, rather than selfishness.

“I started writing notes and giving people index cards to see what they would say-- what their positivity or quote of the day was. It got passed around for awhile until eventually it was so many leftover-- and I put it on a mirror to make a little positive affirmations- and I put a basket on there so people could write, too,” explained Castro.

Castro’s spark ignited a flame of positivity and prayer requests, quickly covering the mirror in the girl’s (sic) bathroom.

“I would have thought that maybe it wouldn’t have done anything or it might have gotten taken down but it continued to grow each day- and it was so much bigger each time and I would walk into the bathroom and there were girls writing there and it made me feel amazing,” she said.

Mirrors can be particularly brutal to a teenage girl. I recall a girl in high school who would spend homeroom redoing her makeup in order to correct whatever flaws she saw in the mirror. While teenage girls can be hard on themselves, it does not match the mean girl ethic that compounds their own perceived flaws. In her strategy for the notes, young Castro recognized this.

The messages are strategically placed on the mirror for a reason.

“A lot of girls go to the bathroom to look at themselves. Mental health can be a bad thing in this school just because people feel pressured and you can get anxiety from that.”

Castro’s biggest message: words are free and full of power.

“Affirmations can do so much for you. It can build you up in bigger ways and then sometimes you might not know it- it might be something small- but when you get told that, you’re constantly reminded- it builds in your head and you get to know that and you can make it and say I can do this,” she concluded.

Castro's affirmation mirror idea has not only spread to another regional middle school, but has even fueled some hate from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) because of the focus on prayer and the Christian themes on some of the notes. 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to the Baldwin County School system after a social media post by Foley High School showed a student-made “prayer mirror” in the girls’ bathroom.https://t.co/5vR4GMgr2F

— 1819 News (@1819News) November 22, 2023

Students are beating other students to death, but FFRF is worried about Christianity and prayer spreading through an affirmation mirror. We know who has their priorities straight and is making a difference in the world. Foley High School has not removed the social media posts and as of this writing, the affirmation wall is still up and still making a difference.

Bravo, Keyla Castro. May your work to affirm and uplift spread like wildfire.