College isn’t easy. Coursework piles up, you fall behind, and it feels like a hopeless situation, even if it isn’t. 

​

However, it’s the pressure you put on yourself that can really kill your momentum. Even if it doesn’t feel like it at the moment, sometimes all you really need to get back on track is a few words of encouragement.

 

A few weeks ago, NMC Student Success did just that with their aptly named words of encouragement campaign. They put up flyers all over campus with a QR code to a Google Form. The Google Form asked students for their favorite motivational quote, as well as a few other things, like studying music or book recommendations.

 

The campaign was a group effort, created in a brainstorming session by the Advising Office staff around the start of the semester. “We talked about the challenges of coming back [to] classes after holiday break, and that many students would be graduating Spring 2026,” said Tallula Morrison, an office manager for Student Success. “During Fall 2025 finals, we kept receiving feedback from students on how heavy things felt, [and] we knew this was a way we could share little pick-me-up moments.”

 

What started as a few “pick-me-up moments” posted to some corkboards around the school became a campus-wide source of motivation. Morrison acknowledged the small start of the campaign, but remained firm in her belief in its value. “[W]e know that sometimes the most impactful things take the longest time to germinate and grow… This isn’t a short-term campaign for us. Encouragement lies at the heart of what we do…”

 

Morrison said that they reached many students and, “probably more than we’re aware of–that’s the beauty of ripples, they keep expanding outward.”

After receiving motivational messages through the Google Form, Student Success posts the messages to social media. Using pictures from around campus as backgrounds, the messages are typed into blocky, white text boxes. 

 

“Challenges are opportunities,” one of the posts said, with a photo of the sun peaking through the windows of the NMC library. Over a photo of the Tanis Building, another post read “This is tough, but so am I.”

 

The campaign has been part of a much larger project called Fail Forward Week, which spanned from Feb. 11–18. “The words of encouragement was a piece of the toolbox… encouraging others and recognizing the impact of how we talk to ourselves.”

 

Fail Forward Week, which aimed to help students reframe failure, included a Lunch & Learn with Student Life on Feb. 12, Student Success coaching on Feb. 16, and a Student Success Fair on Feb. 17. Attending these events would get you a “certificate of failure.” Throughout the week, students could write on the “fail boards” posted on each campus. 

 

Student Success also used social media to share testimonials from students and staff. A testimonial by communications instructor Janet Lively read, “I seriously thought about dropping out,” when she had trouble in her math courses during her first semester at MSU. “Instead, I hired a math tutor and got a C- in the second semester. Success!”

 

Morrison said that the campaign has sparked valuable conversations between peers. She says she’s seen “Staff and students, sharing stories of things that build us up or tear us down, and how it has impacted our forward momentum.”

 

Morrison and the rest of the Student Success faculty are always looking for ways to connect with students here at NMC, and they’re taking requests. Students can send ideas they have in an email to the Advising Office.

 

It’s the little things that really matter. It can be a penny on the sidewalk, a smile from someone across the sidewalk, or a hand to help you up when you fall down. And sometimes, it’s a few pick-me-up moments on a corkboard.