May 2019
As I write this reflection, I have just finished the last YWC meeting of the year! Altogether the students in our community put in over 1,700 hours of community service. I am really thankful for the opportunity to have lead this group, and I feel that it has helped me grow a lot as a person in my awareness, understanding, and abilities.
Speaking in regards to awareness, first and foremost I have been surprised by the amount of people who have been affected mental illness. Especially during our anti-bullying campaign, I learned a lot not about the practice of bullying itself, but about the number of people in my county's school system that have been hurt by other students. After learning this, I have found my self more aware of how other students interact around me and I have even stopped a girl whose friends were just joking with her because I thought I heard them say something really rude! Being part of this club has made me realize that there are a lot of people who need the support of our club, and I am so thankful that I have been able to play such an important role in making a change for the better.
Through the YWC club, I have also found my understanding of mental health issues deepened. Although I already had an interest and a baseline understanding of the most common mental health disorders, I notice that I now have more sympathy for people struggling, and I do not feel uncomfortable talking about it. Moreover, I have a better understanding of the tools available for those with more complex mental health needs, including possibly myself one day. Because of our many role play activities I have grown accustomed to being direct in expressing my concerns about other peoples' mental health, as well as practicing listening to others without reacting or cutting in while they speak.
Finally, in addition to my abilities in the mental health arena, my leadership skills have also grown. At our last few outreach days I have found that I am not as self-conscious about engaging students walking by or getting excited about what our club does. Our club once again organized for therapy dogs to come to our school, and I was telling all of my classes about it. I am able to get up in front of a room of up to forty people and explain of activities, upcoming events, and even a bit about why our club does what we do, all without feeling nervous. It has been a huge change from the beginning of the year, and I hope those changes continue to stick with me as I move through life.
March 2019
The last few months have been very busy, as we have had a lot of meetings, projects, and other events. They have also been a change for me, as other council members are leading the weekly activities and conversations. During January at our council meeting we made up bags and encouraging cards for homeless people in our community. During February, we worked on having a tableing events with another organization called "What Is Love." Essentially, the idea behind this was that on valentine's day many people have questions about relationships, or they are feeling down because they are not in a romantic relationship, so we wanted to acknowledge this and provide support. Also in February we had a woman named Christy come from What Is Love to facilitate activities and conversations related to healthy relationships. She came again in March to talk again, this time about our campaign "Embrace your Voice." This campaign is sort of a branch off of the Sexual Assault Awareness which our school community is focusing on right now. We have had a lot of new faces from student leadership on campus, which has been really great to see. Our upcoming project in April is to help out our school during mental health matters week. We will have a table, and work on promoting our club so that new members can get involved in what we are trying to do for our campus. It is really encouraging to see the leaders of our school coming alongside us for this upcoming week.
December 2018
This month was fairly hectic trying to get all of the students to help participate in certain activities. However, as the other members of the council become more familiar with the ins and outs of leading the group activities, the stress on my part is reduced greatly. However, being the president of the club I am still required to oversee all of the students and ensure they are doing their jobs.
As part of this month's campaign, a group of roughly 5 council members helped out at a local elementary school to pack Christmas stockings for underprivileged families in our community. It was difficult to manage all of the younger children trying to help, as we needed to make sure that each gift was filled with a variety of things and not simply handfuls of candy canes. Ultimately, it was quite worth getting up early on a weekend to be able to oversee the creation of these gifts for people in the community who do not expect anything during the holiday season.
This month we have decided to combine the November and December months into one (-ish) campaign. We will have a "Gratitude Challenge" that continues until winter break begins in December, and starting in December we will also have the campaign--Be the Change. This comes from the Gandhi quote, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." We made a poster for the four weeks following Thanksgiving week that students can write down what they are thankful for on as part of the gratitude challenge. We will also be using our social media platforms to promote this campaign. This is the last month that my co-leader and I will be assuming the roles of co-president for a while, as we have decided along with our director that it is also important to give other students in the YWC council team a chance to practice their leadership skills.
The last month in YWC I have learned to be much more comfortable in my position as a leader, and I have also been able to see a growth in the other council members. We have been focusing on our campaign for October, which is “Upstander” or ending bullying. We created large posters filled with sticky notes with encouraging messages, such as “You are loved!” In addition, we were able to hang anti-bullying posters all around campus. Overall, the October campaign was a huge success.
September 10, 2018
First club meeting of the year. It was really encouraging to see all of the people who attended, especially those who are freshman. I am excited to see how the leadership skills I learn through the council and club will grow me and challenge me in new ways.
September 5, 2018
Today was our first event of the school year. At back to school night we set up a table, along with many other clubs from our school, to promote our club to parents. It was very rewarding to see that many parents were quite involved with the idea of students learning about mental wellness, as well as getting their students involved in a supportive, caring community. I look forward to seeing some new students join our club this year.
August 2018 Reflection
On the 26th I attended the first YWC Council meeting at the Mental Wellness Center. Going in, I was very nervous because I did not know what to expect. We first met up as the different groups from each of the high school campuses across the Santa Barbara area. Looking around, I realized I know way more people than I thought I did. This helped me to calm down, and by the end of the five hour period I felt very comfortable in that environment. I also was able to talk with someone who had transferred to a new school; it brought me joy to see that she was a happier, healthier person.