A paper butterfly sits on the table and looks like it can take off at any moment. Mill Creek students surround the table asking questions about the numerous sheets of paper sitting on the table and how to fold the paper just right to resemble the butterfly. This was one of many activities students could participate in during a recent Mill Creek lunch. This activity gave students the opportunity to learn about and make origami structures. In addition to this origami activity, there was also an opportunity for students to make bracelets with different colored beads representing a feeling that was important to them. For example, red represents love, passion, and courage. Yellow expressed happiness, warmth, confidence, optimism, and security.

Shannon Jephson-Hernandez’s eighth-grade leadership class hosted these activities to provide an outlet for students to relieve their stress and anxieties. “Over the years, as we’ve implicitly taught about ‘stress,’ students have repeatedly expressed wanting to know more and understand easy strategies for managing their anxiety … sometimes, we need something else to distract us from the hard moments. These activities demonstrated that and were a big hit.” Hernandez’s leadership class has taken this leadership opportunity to advocate for mental health awareness and to make sure students incorporate these activities into their everyday lives.

One of the key activities Hernandez’s eighth-grade leadership class spoke on that they felt was helpful is a gratitude journal. “I’m able to express how I’m feeling in the current moment, and it also helps get out my big emotions because I have trouble expressing my emotions sometimes verbally, so it’s easier to write them down than say them out loud,” said Maha Ahmed, eighth-grade leadership student. “The gratitude journals let you write what you’re grateful for … you can journal in them and use it for whatever you want,” said Rahel, eighth-grade leadership student. “When I write things down, I feel like something has been lifted off of me,” said Aisha, eighth-grade leadership student. Hernandez remembers her teachers having them journal when she was a student and its ability to provide a source of comfort and release. “Our students go through a lot in life that they don’t have the power to control. Teaching them the science of gratitude, and how when practiced habitually, it can improve brain chemistry, [and] students are given a means of control over their emotions,” she said.

Mill Creek leadership students know how meaningful this work has been and encourage others across the district to incorporate some of these activities into their daily lives. “If you’re feeling very stressed out, I would say do a brain break; it helps a lot,” said Tynee, eighth-grade leadership student. Here are some examples of brain breaks students can do to take a break and relieve some of the stress and anxiety they are feeling at specific moments. “Talk to your counselor about the stress you’re feeling and how they can help you,” said Aisha, eighth-grade leadership student.

Hernandez has been giving her students tools to relieve stress and anxiety, but the students have taken charge to push for mental health resources. The leadership skills these students displayed during this lunch showed how much students are leading the charge on the well-being of their fellow classmates, but more importantly, creating a culture of belonging and safe spaces for those that need it. “Their young minds do not feel limited. They dream big and ask to do big things. It fills my soul. For the last two years, I have watched leadership students do amazing things with impossible constraints due to COVID-19. We’ve asked them to contribute and participate on grand scales to provide outreach and enrichment for Mill Creek students. They repeatedly step up and ask to do more and more and more. I have learned so much from them and their resilience,” said Hernandez. “Ms. Diamond and I keep telling them ‘They do not understand, YET, the level of impact their work is doing.’ Their huge hearts and generous spirits just pushed them to keep trying. When 12- and 13-year-olds are driving the bus, sometimes you end up on a better journey than if the adults were planning it.”

Article Source: Kent Meridian High School