Chase Marvil, an upperclassman at Woodbridge High, started “The Inspiring Project” to do just that, inspire as many people as possible including peers, adults and family members. Marvil says he is almost to the mark of inspiring 54,000 people! Marvil is using this year’s wall as his senior project.
This project started from what many people considered “inspiring Instagram posts” in December 2013. Marvil said many peers reached out to him asking for advice, looking for someone to chat with or even just to thank him for sharing some kind words. The original Inspiring Project wall displayed 800 quotes on index cards.
This school year, Marvil will be going to various schools in the Woodbridge School District to create a wall. Marvil is calling this year’s wall ‘Inspiring Wall 2.0.’
Photo: Chase Marvil
“We did something a little different, instead of using index cards, we did actual photos of everyone in school,” Marvil said. “They are all holding a sign that says “I AM INSPIRED…” and they filled in the blank.”
Last year, Marvil received an anti-bullying award from Pamela Louie, on behalf of the Division of Prevention and Behavioral Health Services, as well their big green mascot, Jurdy, who is apart of SHOUT b cause, LLC. Marvil has also been contacted by The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation who informed him they added the project to their website.
Chase Marvil receiving an anti-bullying award
This year Marvil is the student representative for the school district and he says he speaks about the project to students and administration on a monthly basis.
“Over the summer, I was invited to legislative hall in Dover to speak about my project and was given an award for my efforts,” Marvil said. “MTV posted about my project on their social medias on August as a campaign they were doing for one of their shows and through that, I have been able to partner up with an organization called Warm Winters in which they give clothing to the less fortunate.”
The Inspiring Project will be sending out index cards with inspiring messages to Warm Winters to give out with their clothing. Marvil hopes this will inspire those less fortunate a little more.
“Let me just say it has been a BUSY summer and still is… but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Marvil said. “The Jefferson awards are coming up and I am in that as well.”
Marvil says he spreads his positivity and helpfulness over social media with the help of Twitter and Instagram. Marvil’s peers have tweeted inspiring messages with the hashtag #theinspiringproject. His main goal is to reach out to people and add some positivity into their lives.
“I want to help teens and even adults feel like they have more opportunities in life,” Marvil said.
Although it is Marvil’s senior year, the administration at Woodbridge hopes to continue this project each year.
As well as inspiring tweets, index cards and photos, Marvil began selling bracelets for $5 each.
“My bracelets are doing great! I have almost sold out of my old ones, and new ones have been delivered and we have 2,400 of them,” Marvil said. “We will be at Apple Scrapple for the first time this year and they will be one of the few things we will have there to benefit the project along with t-shirts and giving away stickers, pens and more!”
Original Inspiring Project bracelets
For more information on The Inspiring Project or how you can help this cause, visit Facebook.com/theinspiringproject.
