Mental health is very important and should always be acknowledged. May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This year Lowellville High School dedicated a whole week acknowledging mental health through spreading positivity and happiness to help their students. The week consisted of several fun activities such as dress down days, therapy dogs, and music events.
Everyday of the week was a new dress down day based on a theme around mental health. These included pajama day to relieve stress and lower cortisol levels, twin day to team up with a friend to know you are never alone, Rocket wear day to show your support to the Rocket family, tie dye because colors represent a wide range of emotions, and the school provided every student with a Mental Health Week t-shirt. These shirts were worn on Wednesday and the students and staff posed for pictures creating the Mental Health Awareness ribbon.
The students created “I AM” statements in their ELA classes on colorful paper. These were positive statements or words which represented our students. Each day in the ELA classes, handouts were given to students about different aspects of mental health. These handouts included information about self-care, meditation, and tips for dealing with anxiety. On Tuesday, music was played during everyone’s lunch. On Wednesday, students enjoyed having therapy dogs in the cafeteria during lunch. A variety of dogs were present and enjoyed hanging out with our students for the day, they were visited by the students as well as walked around to other’s. On Thursday, the students got to enjoy an impromptu dance party in the gymnasium at the end of the day. Mr. Kerpsack was the DJ and favorite songs included “Cleveland Shuffle'' and “Church Clap”.
This was a wonderful experience to help the students with mental health and to have a less stressful week after state testing. It is so important to recognize mental health in schools, help any students who are struggling, and show them that they are not alone. Thank you to Mrs. Parry, Mr. Sammartino, Mrs. Killingsworth, Mrs. Sawicki, and everyone else involved for helping to organize the activities for the students.
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