If you’ve managed to miraculously miss this past Tuesday, LHS hosted an all-day fair for students to attend during their math periods. The fair focused on multiple aspects to bring awareness for mental health by having fourteen booths, allwith different activities that focused on different aspects of mental health.
It’s somewhat hard to miss as well since as of now—student participation during the fair is currently hanging on the right and left side of the cafeteria hallway on the way to gymnasium.
Besides hands-on activities, all students also participated in the sticker-collecting event by attending each stall. A lucky student will be deemed through their provided card to be drawn in a raffle for a prize!
The following summarizes the purpose and activities each booth entails :
Booth 1 – Art Club
Art Club president and member, Robert Cancel and Eve Gran, present the club to students to emphasize the calming effect painting can have on the person. To show this, they had students provide a color to correlate with their current emotion to then add onto the mural beside the booth.
Booth 2 – Best Buddies Club
The booth mainly promoted their own club in the sense that it actually does emphasize the importance of mental health through friendship. The activity consisted of having students that came up to write down five positive affirmations directed towards themselves on a piece of paper shaped like a hand.
Booth 3 – Drama Club
Promoting body positivity towards all attending students, the Drama Club presented their activity as a self-loving act that was similar to the Best Buddie’s booth. Attendees were also encouraged to write down positive affirmations on cards.
Booth 4 – Cheer
The cheer booth pushed students to take notice of the correlation between good mental health and physical activity. To emphasize this belief, they hosted a miniature action course that they timed each session for a leading score on a large poster behind the booth.
Booth 5 – GSA ( Gay-Straight-Alliance )
Similar to the intent behind the actual GSA club itself, the booth promoted students the importance of being yourself truly. The activity allowed attendees to create their own custom pins with markers, and was most likely meant with the intent to make flags, though most people made doodles or funny phrases instead.
Booth 6 – “100 Reasons”
The purpose of the 100 Reasons booth was meant to show to students the multiple things students can go to, whether it’s people, places, or sometimes even random things. The activity encouraged students to write down at least three important things to the students to help them brainstorm ideas on who or what they can go to.
Booth 7 – Photo-Section
Hosted by our vice principal, Ms. HB, she brought awareness to show to students that positive
characteristics can help with their mental health. They were asked to write down their “superpower” on a detailed whiteboard and then encouraged to take a photo with the partner or group behind a large photo-frame.
Booth 8 – Ware Family Service Center
The booth intended for students to have multiple resources to go to for understanding mental health. The activity hadn’t entirely matched the theme, though it consisted of a numbered-wheel that corresponded with numbered questions on a sheet the two hosts had. Each question left students to think of generally thoughtful responses, as it required more than a simple yes or no answer.
Booth 9 – CHD Chicopee
Bringing awareness for the sake of taking a moment to check in on your moods, booth 9 presented students with a “mood-meter” that mimicked the political graph spectrum—but instead with emotions and feelings.
Booth 10 – “Uplift”
While being one of the more simple but effective booths in the fair, they offered multiple coping mechanisms. There wasn’t a legitimate activity, though a handful of students very much enjoyed the textured stickers the booth provided for students briefly attending.
Since the printing only went up to ten squares for whatever reason, students were unable to actually receive a designated spot for the stickers from the following booths.
Booth 11 – “Know Your Limitations”
The only station that presented their own police officer. This station’s objective was to bring awareness over the limitations alcohol presents while driving, though I personally thought it was more-or-so meant to mimic the visionary issues while drinking in general. Students were given the opportunity to wear “drunk-goggles” to mimic being under the influence of alcohol.
Booth 12 – “Empowerment”
While focusing on the empowerment aspect of mental health, booth 12 encouraged students to write on pink-colored cards that said “I am ____, but I am not ___.” The intent behind the activity was for students to stand up against and bring awareness towards the stereotypes that are linked to who they are.
Booth 13 – “Rise-Up”
The booth focused on domestic violence situations to show students the key aspects of figuring out whether you or someone you know is dealing with domestic violence in a relationship. Students were asked to answer 1-3 questions on basic shapes to stick onto a larger poster paper.
Booth 14 – Ludlow Cares
Alongside pushing out that they funded the event, they were actively promoting their own club towards students that visited the booth. In the mental health aspect, it’s meant to show the positive mental effect of helping others by volunteering.
The booth offered free emoji stickers, a miniature pamphlet reciting reasons to become a volunteer, and wrist bands with mental-health-based phrases.
Besides all the opportunities to skip out on class for the students that helped with this event, including myself, other students outside of LHS cares were also given the ability to come out and help in other ways.
For example, the photography teacher—Mrs. Newland—was given the opportunity for her students to photograph the event during her periods. Which means that during the second and sixth period—students attending the fair were most susceptible to seeing fellow classmates with both a camera and “photo-pass” around their neck.
