Your web browser might not work well with our site. We recommend you upgrade your browser.
/classroom/8284906 Customize URL
During the past two years, our students have been increasingly vulnerable to anxiety and other mental health issues. Our school counselor and I have created a small team of students that we refer to as ALIVE (Advocates for Love, Inclusion, Validation, and Empowerment), who help reach out to struggling students who show signs of suicidal ideation. We train our group to question, persuade, and refer those peers to a trusted adult for assistance. The group also hopes to take preventative measures, and this Donors Choose grant has been written for that purpose. During our ALIVE week, each student will receive a 60-page journal in which they will be encouraged to write daily gratitude lists. Such journals are a research-based strategy to lowering suicide risk (https://diversushealth.org/can-gratitude-protect-against-suicide/). The journals account for approximately a third of the requested funds. In addition, students will earn tickets for learning about mental health, self-care strategies, and resources available to them. On the final day, we will host a kind of carnival, where students can use their tickets to play games and earn prizes, which constitute the remainder of the requested funds (hoverboard, LED lights, skateboard helmets, and stickers). Other than the requested water balloons, we will utilize school resources for the games, but we feel that the prizes will give students extra incentive to pay close attention to the information presented earlier in the week.
Read more