FLORENCE, Ala. – As students make their way through the halls, they can pick up a little encouragement on the way to their next class.

The Florence Freshman Center now has an encouragement wall where students can make and take sticky notes with encouraging words from their peers.

History teacher Rebecca Pickle and her peer helper students started with sticky notes placed across the building, which they called "sticky note bandits," inspiring the idea of something more permanent instead.

"It's always there," Pickle said. "We can still do the sticky note bandits as we need to, but that's always there, and we can have it for students at all times."

For students, especially midway through the semester, the encouragement wall serves as a way to build confidence, increase moods, and show others that they aren't alone.

To Ethan Blasingame, one of Pickle's peer helper students, the sticky notes are a reminder that everyone needs a little bit of help from time to time.

"I think that everybody has their bad days," Blasingame said. "A big thing to do is just make sure that you can get through your day, and I think that the encouragement wall is a great way to show how everybody is going to be able to push through with help."

So, as the students go on throughout their day, they'll always have a little encouragement along the way.