My submission is about how I wish parents and other adults would listen to us students and children, not to say that they don’t listen but that they don’t hear us. I want this to be fixed and I want adults to hear my message and think about how they often ignore our feelings because they are scared.
Being strapped down by the depression of my daily life interrupts everything I do. My worst fear is disappointing my parents and not being able to meet the most simple expectations. […] The hardest thing for me to tell my parents is that I TRIED to get up but couldn’t.
Silencing your child anytime they are trying to express something to you is a drastic setback for them; over time, it affects their capability to communicate and express their emotions to you. Don’t limit their voice and listen to them.
This submission is a letter showing love to my family. It also shows them where I am with my mental health.
My piece, “A Lesson in Poetry”, is my way of expressing how much poetry means to me. I thought what better way than to discuss this with a poem, one of my favorite art forms. This piece tells the story of how I learned to write poetry from my dad throughout the years and how he really formed my love for it and how I write. “A Lesson in Poetry” is meant to be a guide for anyone looking to get into writing poetry or really writing of any kind. As something that has given me so much hope, I wanted to share its beauty with everyone who reads it by looking back on my journey as a poet.
I wish my parents understood the complexity of emotions and mental health in their children. It’s easy for parents to get caught up in the chaos of raising a family, but it’s essential to pause and acknowledge that children have very real emotions that shouldn’t be overlooked just because they’re young.
My submission is a ‘collaborative’ poster. I gathered thoughts, ideas, feelings, and emotions from all the people I know. I wanted to do something that really shows how stressful and difficult situations are affecting children, teenagers, and adults.
With this PSA we wanted to reach out to adults and guardians in order to raise awareness towards the issues teens face. The PSA covers how teens experience and express anxiety and stress. Parents sometimes do not realize when their child is dealing with something despite the signs they may show.
You never know what someone is going through until they tell you, so this film/podcast gave me an opportunity to become closer with teammates, advisors, and friends – they trusted me enough to share their mental health, and I’m hoping other teens will want to share their mental health after watching this.