By Greta Nerad
News Editor
Mental Health Awareness Week took place from April 8-12 in order to create a more open conversation about mental health on campus.
Beach Cities Health District student representatives, junior Ella Scalabrini and seniors Izzy Stein and Amanda Costley, collaborated to organize the school-wide event. Throughout the week, students participated in activities and had the opportunity to use resources to improve their mental health.
“Mental health awareness is important because almost everyone knows someone who suffers from a mental health issue,” Stein said. “It’s not something to be ashamed of, and I want more people to recognize that.”
Teachers passed out purple Mental Health Awareness Week wristbands last Monday, and on Wednesday, Costa students and staff wore purple to unify the campus.
“I saw a lot of teachers around campus with their purple wristbands on, and every staff member I saw on Wednesday had purple on,” Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale said. “There’s a lot of awareness of [mental health] and there’s a lot of appreciation for it.”
During lunch on Tuesday, the student organizers hosted yoga in the Mustang Mall, where a yoga instructor led a session for students to relax and unwind. The purpose of this event was to teach students how to bring out their inner strength and set aside the negative things within, Costley said.
“It’s definitely important to create a conversation, and right now we are doing reactive things to try to help kids who are already struggling, but as we go on to the future it’s going to be really important to create proactive things to help prevent mental health problems in schools,” Costley said.
Mental Health Awareness Week also partnered with Link Crew’s Costachella event on Wednesday. During the event, local health and counseling resources set up booths available to students. Link Crew decided to promote mental health during Costachella to add more meaning to the event, Link Crew teacher Maddie Hutchinson said.
“The topic of mental health has been seen as taboo for a long time, and it was wonderful and necessary to have open dialogue about it,” Hutchinson said. “Bringing resources onto campus and encouraging people to have these discussions was a very positive addition to the day.”
The organizers also held a visual and cinematic art contest, in which students could submit artwork to express their creative interpretation of mental health and open a constructive conversation about the topic. School officials reviewed the artwork and chose a winner for each category.
Senior Cooper Roth won the film category with his video “The In Between” and senior Renee Boettner won the visual art category with her painting titled “Isolation.” Costa Vice Principal Dr. Deborah Hofreiter announced on April 11 that these students won the first prize award of $100, and that those interested could see the artwork in the cafeteria display case.
“It feels awesome to know that the judges understood the message I was trying to get across, and being rewarded for it is just a plus,” Roth said.
Costa has ample school resources available to those struggling with mental health issues, including school psychologists and a marriage and family therapist, Dale said.
“Up till now, we’ve done quite a bit, but there’s always more to do,” Dale said. “What they did [last] week was tremendous, the student organizers did a fantastic job.”
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