Year after year, she watches as Hope Squad posts notes around the school and collaborates to support mental health. But, year after year, she’s never nominated. She asks herself, “Why do I need to be nominated to advocate?” Sophomore Leighton Rushing knew what to do. She needed to start her own club.
“The purpose was to come out with an opportunity to advocate for mental health without being in Hope Squad,” Rushing said. “You have to be nominated [for Hope Squad], so the whole goal is to be able to support mental health without having to be nominated.”
Rushing started by creating a presentation to pitch her club. She asked two of her friends to serve as officers, found a sponsor, Ms. Amber Patrick, and created guidelines for members to follow. After gathering everything she needed, she pitched her idea to Dr. Stephanie Bonneau, principal, and worked to get it started.
“We’ve been in Ms. Patrick’s room every single advisory for the past four weeks, holding officer meetings, making constitutions, bylaws and permission slips,” Rushing said. “We just had to start from scratch to come up with a bunch of rules and regulations, and we had to email Dr. Bonneau a bunch of times. We had to make flyers, and it took a long time, but we got there.”
Rushing approached Ms. Patrick as a sponsor because she felt a close bond with her and knew she cared about the cause. The club meets at 3 p.m. every other Monday on A-Days in Ms. Patrick’s room, J-111.
“I believe in the cause and what the club stands for,” Ms. Patrick said. “I am hoping what will come from the club is to help normalize mental health and remove the current stigma.”
Each meeting features member-led discussion and activities that encourage positive mental well-being throughout campus. In a recent meeting, they made goodie bags for all counselors to show their appreciation. Rushing hopes their efforts will spread awareness and gain campus involvement.
“I feel so passionately about it because mental health is something that I struggled with for a very long time, and I always wanted to be a part of Hope Squad, but I never got nominated,” Rushing said. “I wanted to be a part of something, and I was like, ‘You know what? I’ll make my own club.’”
