This week, Mentor High School will be hosting a wall dedicated to spreading festive seasonal cheer among students. Titled “Frosty Favorites,” the wall collects contributions from Mentor students to build community and combat seasonal depression. To learn about how you can easily contribute, see the section “How Students Can Contribute” below.
The War on Seasonal Depression
In the winter months of every year, people around the world experience seasonal depression, medically named “Seasonal Affective Disorder” (SAD), which causes affected individuals to feel moody and drained of energy. This is often directly found beginning in the fall and spanning into winter months, lasting a great deal of time during the school year, directly affecting the motivations of students to perform in everyday classwork and assessments. In the United States, around 5% of the population will experience SAD in a given year, with about 80% of cases being women. Perhaps the largest symptom of SAD is a negative impact on social functioning. For students, this means a reduction in social gatherings, especially over winter months where students may have prolonged time off from school and an increase in free time.
To promote and celebrate positive use of this free time, the Frosty Favorites Wall aims to present the positive experiences of students during these times and reinforce positive behaviors. Becoming a community gathering of messages and images, the wall will serve to represent the culmination of student experiences and thoughts over winter months, offering other students the opportunity to engage with others and the motivation to cultivate their own memories in the remaining seasonal time.
How Students Can Contribute
The wall, located on the Courtyard Windows and accessible from the Student Center, is available to all students to add their own experiences from the winter season. Supplies for putting up messages and images will be provided for students at a nearby table. Here, assorted note cards and colorful markers can be used by students to write about their memories over the winter season, provide positive messages, or even offer some advice for students. Students are also encouraged to print out pictures of their experiences to display on the wall. The Hub can be utilized for such printing. Simply put the images you want to be printed in a Google doc, and email the document to Mrs. Van Kirk ([email protected]) with a message regarding “Frosty Favorites” to get images printed. Your picture can then be picked up in the Hub at a later time. At the table, students can use tape to place their images or note cards on the wall.
Whether you went skiing, sledding, opened a great gift, hung out with friends, or just watched a great movie during the frosty months, it all has a place on the wall. Here, no matter the content, your message can help the students at MHS, some who may be both struggling with SAD or anything else, and create a community where everyone feels welcomed. With zero judgement, students are strongly encouraged to put up their “Frosty Favorite” on the Frosty Favorites wall and make MHS a better place for everyone.
The Frosty Favorites Wall will not be under supervision while students are available to put up their items, but the content will be moderated each day to ensure only positive messages are displayed. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Nathan Colagross with any questions for how you can contribute.
