The shirt reads: “ad astra // per aspera” — Latin for “to the stars through hardship.”
Set in small lowercase pink type beneath a soft pastel rainbow, with scattered stars and sparkles around it. The whole design is quiet and takes up very little of the shirt.
It is the state motto of Kansas and the older motto of anyone getting through something. Printed at this size it reads as a note to self rather than an announcement — you have to be close to read it at all. For graduations, recoveries, and long stretches that are nearly over.
