This past week, Athens High School held its fourth annual Mental Health Awareness Week to continue to shed light on the rapidly growing issue in youths in order to combat the stigma surrounding their emotional wellbeing.

The school made sure to highlight the underrated importance of self-care and stress management throughout the week-long event, encouraging various beneficial techniques to improve their students mental health.

“We are really trying to bring as much mental health awareness to our school as possible,” Ramona Malone, a student support counselor at Athens High School, said. “We have mental health counselors come to our school, so kids don’t have to leave the building for their appointments anymore.”

Malone, along with psychology teacher Paige Hicks, spearheaded Wednesday’s Mental Health Fair where hundreds of students walked from vendor to vendor around the Athen’s Arena gym to learn how to better deal with their emotions.

“This is the second year we have done the mental health fair and we are excited we have continued to grow with different partners and companies,” Hicks said. “This is a great way for us to advocate for kids to talk more about their mental health.”

Students were not the only ones who were doing the learning throughout the week, as teachers and even principal Willie Moore talked about the positive benefits they gained from the event.

“This has been an opportunity to develop a level of openness with each other, to show that we all have issues that we can help each other with more,” Moore said. “For this to grow as much as it has over the past four years speaks to the work our students and employees have put in each week.”

All grades, 9-12, were able to experience the Mental Health Fair, but for the seniors in attendance like Ella Marlowe – this week meant a little bit more. This year’s graduating class of Golden Eagles came into high school during the peak of the COVID pandemic, and they also got to watch the Mental Health Awareness Week start in 2021.

“I remember trying to get into classes and just how difficult it was with everything getting shut down, it was definitely not great,” Marlowe said. “Me and my friend started Active Minds, which is our mental health club here at school, and this has been a great way for us to promote to other kids ways to handle the stress that we go through on a daily basis.”

One of the big selling points for the fun of the weeklong event was the dress up days. Students got the chance to express themselves in some hilarious attire throughout the week, for example on Tuesday they got to dress up as their favorite teacher and on Friday they got to wear the same outfit as their friend.

The purpose of this whole occasion was best summed up by Malone who wanted to express why all the laughing and learning was so impactful to see.

“Kids now are very aware of anxiety and stress, so seeing this proves we are getting rid of the negative outlook on mental health,” Malone said. “At the end of the day, someone’s mental health should never be an excuse to stop them from achieving their goals in life.”