CJ and Ali carrying the heart around campus.
Wooster has a lot of traditions and community-building activities that have lasted a long time. Just this week, the Woo Loves Conversation Heart was brought back. This was started a long time ago, in 2016, by two middle school students named Ali ’20 and C.J. They started a club to spread love and compassion. The idea of a physical representation that could go around the school was brought up around Valentine's Day. As many Wooster students and faculty know, Wooster has hidden hearts all around campus (created by Leaf, a former maintenance staff member, and his team), and this helped create the idea. They wanted to incorporate that tradition into this new one by making it mobile.
During a Monday art elective, mixed media, the pink cardboard heart was created. The two middle schoolers carried it around campus for everyone to write on. People wrote all the things they loved about Wooster, with many themes of true friends, great community, supportive teachers, and kind people. Ms. Semmel, who helped with the whole process, remembers all the people who signed it and thinks about where they are today. It was a community project that involved everyone and brought the community closer. After that day, the heart lived in the middle school on top of the lockers until Ms. Semmel looked through old pictures this year and decided that it would be nice to have it back after 10 years. This year, two middle school girls wanted to participate in carrying the heart around campus.
The goal of the heart is to send out feelings of belonging and appreciation for the community we have. Art is a great way to bring feelings alive and display them visually for everyone to see and reflect on.
As for the future of the heart, Ms. Semmel is hoping to make this a yearly tradition each Valentine’s Day. If that isn’t possible, she would like to see another community art project started to circulate throughout the community. While it’s not in use, she would like the heart to live in a place that is more accessible to everyone, rather than on top of the middle school lockers. This could be the library or even admissions. Another idea for this art piece would be to weatherproof it, and it could become an outdoor sculpture. This could look like using a weatherproofing spray or even making a new one out of wood or clay for a more permanent fixture in the landscaping.
The Woo Loves Conversation Heart was a great way to spread kindness and positivity, from 10 years ago all the way to 2026. Wooster is such a unique community, and projects like this really show off the connection everyone shares from working together and going to school here.
Marley '26
Advanced Journalism Student
