Massena Central School District earns third 'Champions of Change' recognition
Jul. 10—MASSENA — A student-created website that addresses student mental health issues has earned the Massena Central School District its third "Champions of Change for Kids" recognition from the New York State School Boards Association.
"Champions of Change for Kids" is designed to "celebrate programs that use existing resources to address issues of equity, demonstrate strong student academic performance, and introduce unique learning environments that are cutting-edge."
NYSSBA Area 6 Director Wayne Rogers presented the district with a banner to hang in the school during last week's board of education meeting. It recognizes the "On the Mend" website and program that was spearheaded by Kristen Oliver, who was present at the meeting to accept the banner from Rogers.
He said he was impressed when he read about the development of a website focusing on mental health that offered students local resources and others they could turn to for assistance.
"Champions of Change was set up three years ago to allow us to share information on some of the really good things that happen in individual school districts that could also be duplicated and could be beneficial to other districts across the state," Rogers said.
High school Principal Alan C. Oliver said Oliver had taken on the project as part of her International Baccalaureate Creativity, activity, service (CAS) component. It's one of the three essential elements that every student must complete as part of the Diploma Programme.
"The whole program was aimed at an issue that we all know we're facing in schools right now, which is student mental health and, by proxy some of the behavioral stuff as well," he said. "When Wayne said students were involved, it's not students who were involved. It was student-led from start to finish and she was the leader."
The 2023 graduate explained how she got involved with the effort.
"It was kind of like my summer project because I knew I wanted to do something. I was doing a lot of research on all these other programs that they have available, and nothing was really tailored to Massena specifically, just because we have a very interesting dynamic here. So, I was like, why don't I just come up with it myself," Oliver said.
She said she wanted the effort to be student led "because the other programs I've been a part of throughout my high school career, you get to give input, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you get to actually change something."
She said the website was created using a program a teacher showed her. It was developed by the school's Climate Committee, also known as Project Raiders.
"I had a good group of people. We had a group and I split them up and I remember our launch day, Jan. 24. We went to the advisors and I had them give a guided presentation of the website. All the kids were on it and that was really cool because I got to see all the activity on it because it was just an idea forever and it was real," Oliver said.
The website contains six different tabs, including guidance resources, social work resources, hotlines, and a listing of all the school's clubs.
"There's just a place for students to go to when they can't necessarily get that stuff at home," she said. "There are so many resources on there. It's everything."
The group also did "the bracelet project," which she said also focused on mental health.
"We had different colors for different mental health disorders and illnesses that people struggle with on a daily basis that not everyone's necessarily aware of. We sold them in the lobby for a week for different colors," Oliver said.
Board President Paul A. Haggett thanked Oliver for her efforts on the project.
"The recognition program has been in place for three years and Massena has gotten a recognition banner every year that the program has been in place. So, it's thanks to students like you and others on staff and so forth that have put together programs that are brought that kind of recognition to us" he said.
