Mental Health Week Mellowing the Mustang Mind
Service learning brings mental health awareness with their current project.
By Sharon Kim and Jisela Negrete
Service learning brings mental health awareness with their current project.
By Sharon Kim and Jisela Negrete
Service learning seniors Kaylah Ooka and Alyssa Keller have brought back the mental health awareness project this month. Building on what they did last year, taking all of the positive feedback, these mental health weeks are a combination of their efforts to have an even better outcome this year.
Over three weeks, the project will hold a different mental health topic each week. From Jan. 29 to Feb. 2, the main focus was anxiety, from Feb. 5 to Feb. 9 it was depression and the last week, Feb. 12 to Feb. 16, will be about eating disorders.
Service learning is a course that focuses on practicing valuable life skills where students plan, organize and create these opportunities to help the community. As service learning coordinator and social studies department chair Mike Burrell acknowledges the leadership of these students and turns the praise their way.
“It's not just mental health week, it's everything we do where students are driving it, running it, putting things together,” said Burrell. “I just check the boxes and tell them what they can or can’t do and give them support when they need it.”
The original project plan was going to be about tobacco until Ooka found that the topic of mental health resonated more deeply with her.
“I've been dealing with some personal mental health issues for a while and I just knew a lot about it and it just really struck a chord with me. It was a really personal, passion-developed project,” said Ooka.
Opening up about personal struggles can be challenging and awkward in many situations. These weeks are dedicated for people to have that chance to talk about mental health more openly.
“We are hoping it allows people to feel more comfortable talking about their own mental health and understand what others may be experiencing,” said Keller.
The need for this sort of project has been felt by service learning members like Rachel Carney, 12, who has helped in this project by managing social media and the publicity for these events.
“High school can be very rigorous and demanding for many students, especially those taking multiple AP classes which can drain their mental health. So I think that this project is important and can be helpful to those who are struggling,” said Carney.
While many of the weeks leading up to Feb. 16 consist of social media posts and posters around the school, the project's conclusion will have a kindness board during lunch along with the entire campus showing their support by wearing green to honor Mental Health Awareness Day.
“I am most looking forward to seeing the Pioneer students’ reactions and participation in our lunch event. We are going to have a kindness board that students can put kind and uplifting notes on to other students,” said Carney. “So I am excited to see what everyone comes up with. I am hoping that our event will bring about some camaraderie with the students of Pioneer and be a comfortable place for them.”
Over three weeks, the project will hold a different mental health topic each week. From Jan. 29 to Feb. 2, the main focus was anxiety, from Feb. 5 to Feb. 9 it was depression and the last week, Feb. 12 to Feb. 16, will be about eating disorders.
Service learning is a course that focuses on practicing valuable life skills where students plan, organize and create these opportunities to help the community. As service learning coordinator and social studies department chair Mike Burrell acknowledges the leadership of these students and turns the praise their way.
“It's not just mental health week, it's everything we do where students are driving it, running it, putting things together,” said Burrell. “I just check the boxes and tell them what they can or can’t do and give them support when they need it.”
The original project plan was going to be about tobacco until Ooka found that the topic of mental health resonated more deeply with her.
“I've been dealing with some personal mental health issues for a while and I just knew a lot about it and it just really struck a chord with me. It was a really personal, passion-developed project,” said Ooka.
Opening up about personal struggles can be challenging and awkward in many situations. These weeks are dedicated for people to have that chance to talk about mental health more openly.
“We are hoping it allows people to feel more comfortable talking about their own mental health and understand what others may be experiencing,” said Keller.
The need for this sort of project has been felt by service learning members like Rachel Carney, 12, who has helped in this project by managing social media and the publicity for these events.
“High school can be very rigorous and demanding for many students, especially those taking multiple AP classes which can drain their mental health. So I think that this project is important and can be helpful to those who are struggling,” said Carney.
While many of the weeks leading up to Feb. 16 consist of social media posts and posters around the school, the project's conclusion will have a kindness board during lunch along with the entire campus showing their support by wearing green to honor Mental Health Awareness Day.
“I am most looking forward to seeing the Pioneer students’ reactions and participation in our lunch event. We are going to have a kindness board that students can put kind and uplifting notes on to other students,” said Carney. “So I am excited to see what everyone comes up with. I am hoping that our event will bring about some camaraderie with the students of Pioneer and be a comfortable place for them.”