Melanie Reyes Tackles Mental Health Speaking at Teen Conference

By Alice Kauffman (9)
alice.kauffman@fwcsstudents.org

April 13, 2023

In early March, South Side student Melanie Reyes (11) spoke at something called the Teen Speak Conference. This was a very valuable moment for our school, and the students. 

A lot of kids may not know what this conference is. Students from lots of different places get the opportunity to talk about something extremely important: mental health.

“My sophomore year, during health class, there were two representatives from something called The Respect Team; we had an eight week program on how to deal with mental health and how to help people with thoughts of suicide. In May, when teachers chose awards for their students, my health teacher took me aside during class and said she had nominated me for an award as a part of this team,” said Reyes.

Her teacher sent in an application talking about Reye’s involvement with the school. In July, certain students got an interview extended to them to be a finalist for something called the 360 Awards.

“So, last September I got the award through The Respect Team, and then in December, the director of that program messaged me saying to apply to Teen Speak. During winter break, I sent in my interview video, and I didn’t hear back from them until about mid january,” Reyes says.

After the response, Reyes began her long process of preparation. Starting in January, she went to a meeting every Sunday with mentors.

“I’ve gone to two hour meetings every time, and we talked about how to scan and connect with your audience. We got split up into different teams with three advisors helping us, they’re professional level speakers, that's their job. I did a lot of work on my own time. I think I edited my speech like ten times before it was perfect, how I wanted it to be,” said Reyes. 

Months and months went into creating the speech, which is why several South Side students went to go support her when she spoke. It was held in the Indiana Tech Performance Theater, with around 50 to 60 individuals in the room.

“Melanie had quite a few friends there to watch, as well as me, and a few other members of the Jazz Band,” said Jude Ratajczak (11).

Before she spoke, she had told the Jazz Band (which she’s a saxophonist in) that she’d love for them to come out and attend.

“It was interesting, because it was definitely scripted, something she was practicing, she went off of that. It was more anecdotal, she was talking about some of the things she’d experienced in the past. She talked about her family supporting her and empowerment as well,” says Ratajczack.

Her words had a huge, positive impact on the school, and several teachers were proud as well as fellow peers. There was an announcement the week after she attended the conference, giving her recognition. 

“Go support your friends, definitely go watch their performance, invest in each other,” stated Ratajczak.

The best way to create a healthy school environment is praise, and accommodation, which the Archers certainly showed at this conference! 

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