Middle school students spread joy & strengthen community mental health
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Members of the Bert Nash Center (BNC) community engagement team had the honor of taking part in the West Middle School spring carnival on April 25, joining their Good Vibe Warhawks Club to share mental resources and celebrate the club’s success in selling out of the homemade bracelets and accessories they made to support community mental health care.
English teacher and club sponsor Megan Maile had reached out to the BNC community engagement team earlier in the semester to introduce their fundraising initiative and invite staff to visit the students and learn what inspired the project.
“I think we need a lot more positivity in the world right now,” Maile said.
When asked what inspired her to found the club, she spoke of her wish to create a safe space for students to have a positive impact and share joy across not only their school community but the broader community as well.
Students joined the club out of wish to connect with like-minded peers. One mentioned a shared desire to “do good things for the community” and another explained that they just wanted to “make people happy.”
They have made and sold crafts – such as candy cane grams – to benefit area nonprofit organizations, sent homemade Valentine’s Day cards to nursing homes, and distributed inspirational posters and notes with positive messages around their school building.
When asked why they chose to support BNC with their most recent craft project, students spoke about their wish to help community members with mental health challenges. Some have friends or were aware of friends’ parents receiving services at BNC, others were acquainted with BNC team members, and they all wanted to support the work.
One student put it simply: " We want to help people who are struggling."
The students had thoughtful questions about mental health and were particularly curious about what mental health challenges might look or feel like for children and teens. They were eager to brainstorm ideas about how to encourage others who have mental health challenges. They talked about how happy it made them to make and sell the bracelets to support BNC and would love to see other kids doing what makes them happy as well.
Their fundraising project was a resounding success. Within the first 90 minutes of the carnival, they had sold out their entire stock and collected additional donations from the West Middle School community. Their compassion will help expand access to mental health services.
