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Lexi Vanleeuwen

Mr.Gardner

ELA 12 b

05 May 2022

Addressing the issue

Dear Brighton High administration,

I think we can all agree that these past few years have been crazy, with school

being changed online to coming back in person, then possibly having to be quarantined

for coming to school and sitting next to the wrong person. It's been a crazy ride and many

would agree that it has taken a toll on a lot of students' mental health. So we need to find

a solution to help these students because before covid many haven't had this struggle, I

created a survey and asked how many people’s mental health was affected due to the

pandemic and 76% of people said that the pandemic did have a toll on their mental

health. I would argue that now that we are back to in person school we have all of the

resources we need to help struggling students. In an article done by Inside Higher ED it

says” No one actively reaches out and makes sure students are doing ok, and no one takes

action to address the root causes of the issue. No matter how anxious or depressed you

are, that paper’s still due on friday” this shows how this is a big issue everywhere and

gives options of what we can do to help.

The goal of my plan is to make school a safer place and to help students know

they aren't alone and that there's resources to help them if needed. I created a three
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objective plan so I can achieve the goal of helping my fellow classmates and future

students. The first objective is to have the teachers go to a 2 hour meeting to discuss how

they can be more helpful and supportive to students. The second step is for a board of

students willing to help make a list and find inspirational videos to show. The last step of

this plan is to have teachers show the videos in flex every monday, whether the video is

an inspirational message or just a reminder that there's help just a little thing that can

make a big difference for those who are willing to watch it.

This action plan is dependent on if teachers are actually willing to show up to a

meeting and if they are willing to show the videos once a week during flex. In an

interview done a student (Addi Vanleeuwen ) said this would be beneficial and she thinks

that this could help out some students. This evidence helped me conclude that whether it

helps 200 students or 20 it doesn't really matter, we just need to do more to make schools

a safer place for students.

Works cited :

Interview : Malan Laura, May 4 2022

Interview : Addison Vanleeuwen, May 5 2022

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/04/14/students-struggling-not-seeking-campus-ment

al-health-support
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https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/04/14/students-struggling-not-seeking-campus-ment

al-health-support