Coming soon: Sidewalk smiles -- Eagle Scout set to launch 'Just say hi' initiative

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April 24, 2008

By Bethany Bray and Brian Messenger

Andover High School senior Eric Simpson hopes to make Andover a friendlier place, one hello at a time.

Simpson, 17, is working on his Eagle Scout project, a campaign titled "just say hi," involving art and social awareness in town. The project will fully launch in June, after he graduates, he said.

Simpson plans to paint and install murals around town, including at the town skate park, that will encourage residents to be a little more friendly and reach out, especially to folks they don't know, he said.

The murals will "emulate a vibe of going out there and putting yourself out on the line to say hello," Simpson said. "All the important people in your life are people that you are going to go up to and say hello. It's a social campaign to get out there and be friendly, developing relationships ... the murals as a way to catch people's attention, get them to ask questions. It's a jumping off point for developing relationships in the community."

Simpson has teamed with Bill Fahey, director of Andover Youth Services, for the project and hopes to get locals involved in helping design, paint and install the murals. The murals installed at the skate park will also help kick off a skateboard tournament planned for late June.

When thinking of ideas for his Eagle Scout project, Simpson contacted Fahey because he knew AYS was a place where he would be able to make an impact and "help out the most," he said. He enjoys painting and art, and wanted to include that in his Eagle project too, he said.

Fahey suggested the "just say hi" idea to Simpson because he believes being friendly and saying hello to people you don't know opens up possibilities. That's how Fahey met AYS wrestling coach Sobhan Namvar.

"It could be your best friend," said Fahey. "It could be your employer, your teammate, your wife. It could be your future wrestling coach. That's what happened to me, and I just said, 'Hi' to a kid (Namvar)."

"I think it's important to young people," said Fahey. "I think what we're saying applies to every kid, every group, every place."

Simpson said the "just say hi" idea is relevant to Andover, where many residents are driven and concerned with numbers whether they be class rank, GPA or checkbook balance.

"The idea is getting people to focus on relationships and not focus on numbers anymore, or find a balance between the two. Being a kid in Andover, people are always looking for your GPA and not if you're a cool person," he said. "You can be friendly, funny and compassionate along with getting good grades, being a whole person."

Simpson has been in Scouts since first-grade, when he started as a Tiger Cub in 1996. He is a member of Andover Troop 77.

For now, he's concentrating on finishing his senior year at AHS, where he plays on the lacrosse team. He's deciding between the State University of New York at Stonybrook and the University of Massachusetts Amherst for next year, he said. Eventually, he'd like to be a history teacher.