Ohio — As high school and district administrators in central Ohio prepare to close out the year, they’ll have a few more things to consider now that students have challenged them to make changes.
Students at the school took on the project after recognizing how mental health challenges took center stage, not only across the country, but right in their school. In 2019, a student died by suicide.
Students like Nana Amaning, who worked on the research project, said it was tough learning about it.
“When I heard the news about his tragedy, I was actually in my first period class, which was a history class, and I can remember students, crying, leaving out of class. It was a very gloomy day. It was sad,” said Amaning.
Over the last few months, that tragedy prompted 14 students to research and look for solutions that could help their peers struggling with mental health challenges. From teachers and counselors to students, they surveyed hundreds within their school.
They found depression to be one of the biggest issues, along with anxiety brought on by the pandemic. While they weren’t surprised by students struggling with depression, some were surprised at how alone students felt and how “so many said they felt shameful or really embarrassed or worried about like what the counselors, would kind of take out of that and they would talk to their parents,” student Harini Subramanian explained.
She was also surprised at just how challenging it was for counselors to manage the number of students struggling with mental health challenges, in addition to their other duties.
Regardless, students recommended there be discussions within their day about mental health, mindfulness activities and connecting students to teachers to help bridge the communication gap. While students worked in two separate groups to reach their conclusions, the hope is that their peers will now know that they have someone in their corner. All of the students presented their findings last week to school administrators.
Students said so far, the district superintendent has endorsed their research and recommendations.
