By Helga N., Senior at Leominster High School
During my session with LUK in the spring, I worked to create care packages that would hopefully ease the stress students and teachers had as it was approaching the end of the school year. The plan was to help them ease into summer with a better mindset so they could continue to be productive and not feel burnt out throughout the summer. Unfortunately, the supplies did not come in time, so we ended up assembling the care packages over the summer. After discussing with the administration at Leominster High School, we were able to distribute the care packages through the guidance office. It was never officially announced that the care packages were in guidance because we only had about 100 and there are almost 2,000 students in the school, but the word did spread through other students and I saw many students with care packages in the halls and in some of my classes. I was pleasantly surprised when students in some of my classes, whom I had never spoken with, asked about the care packages. It makes me happy to see how many students were positively affected by the care packages, and I would love to do something similar at the end of this school year, for the senior class specifically, as a graduation gift.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to help people in my school community!
Some of the responses:
“I felt cared for, like there was someone who understood how hard school has been for me lately and sent this as a sign to take it one step at a time.” – 11th Grade Student
“I cried, I was not really feeling the best, or in a good place mentally, and it just made me really happy.” – 12th Grade Student
“I loved how it focused on self care, recently I haven’t been doing a lot of that and I really appreciated that.” – 12th Grade Student
“It was a good idea, especially since this is the first year fully back since the start of the pandemic. I feel like students and teachers will all be positively affected!” – Admin
“It made me remember that school isn’t everything and that I should focus on myself sometimes, even if I don’t think it is a priority.” – 11th Grade Student
“I went because there was candy and I ended up seeing all of the other stuff [mental wellness promotion] and I thought it was cool because we don’t really talk about those things in my classes [mental health].” – 10th Grade Student
“I told my friends to get them because they had the squishies and they said they also liked the colouring pages. I think it is cool that you guys [LUK] are doing this at the schools because it has been super hard lately and this could really help someone who is struggling. They may not tell you it helps them, but I am sure they have helped a lot of people.” – 12th Grade Student
“I still have to get one, but I have seen a lot of students with them and it seems to be doing its job” – Teacher