Nine years ago, Silver Ribbon Campaign (SRC) was started by a small group of students. Now, over 200 students attend meetings; at a November meeting, the attendance stood at 267 students.
“I heard about it, and I wanted somewhere to skip and be excused, but I enjoyed the topics discussed and now I go all time,” said sophomore Siri Neseth.
SRC is a support group at South High school that raises awareness about mental illnesses. During each meeting, different types of mental illness are discussed, such as bi-polar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia.
“[SRC] helps break the stigma [about mental illness],” said Eva Neubeck, a social worker at South and the advisor for SRC. “It [helps] people become more comfortable with themselves, with who they are, with who their families are.”
“We’re definitely there for you,” said senior Lindsey Matter. Matter joined because she has family members with mental illness, and she wanted to know more about what her family was going through.
SRC hosts meetings during the school day, so students miss their classes to attend. Leaders of the group try to switch the hours and days of the meeting times, so students aren’t continuing to miss the same class.
The reason SRC gets to meet during the school day is partially due to it being classified as a support group. “It doesn’t differ from meeting with a nurse, therapist, or a social worker,” said Neubeck.
Spanish teacher Sheila Willette, who had originally booked the media center for her class, was kicked out of the space because of the SRC meeting. “I was very confused,” said Willette. But Willette wasn’t upset with the SRC group. She knew that because of the huge group of students that attend meetings, finding a meeting place in school is difficult.
“[SRC is] better during the day even though it annoys the teachers,” said Matter. Holding meetings after school makes it difficult for students that have other activities, or don’t have the option not to take the school bus. “It would change the availability,” said Neubeck.
But availability is something that other groups run into as well. UNIDOS is a group for Latino students that meets after school. Luz Arias, who is the advisor of UNIDOS as well as a Spanish teacher, would prefer if their meetings were during the school day, because it’s hard for students to stay after school.
“We would have more students that would like to attend, and it would impact the education of most Latino students,” said Arias.
But the support that SRC provides is what sets it apart.
“After each meeting we had a student stay after and continue to have private conversations with the speakers,” said junior leader Carter Denison, who originally decided to attend SRC because she thinks it’s important to have a support system for students to learn about mental health. “It gets people that have questions to ask them.”
After a student attended a SRC meeting for the first time, she approached Neubeck afterwards. “She was just so amazed that people wanted to know about mental illness.
She thought she was the only one who had problems.” explained Neubeck.
A problem that SRC has run into is students just attending meetings in order to skip class. “The first time I went, I just went to get out of class, then I kept going and I started to go just because I care,” said junior Clara Schultz, one of the leaders of SRC. Teachers find that a big portion of their students are missing during SRC meetings.
“It makes it difficult for my students to keep up to date,” said Willette. SRC leader, junior Kevin Wicklund said that one reason some teachers may get frustrated about students leaving class is because they don’t understand what SRC is about.
At the beginning of an SRC meeting, Schultz reminded students to make sure they are making up the classwork they are missing. The leaders discouraged just coming to the meetings to skip, and if they were going to talk during the meetings, they could leave. “Be chill and be respectful,” said Wicklund.
Due to the large number of students attending meetings, SRC leaders decided to limit the number of students that can attend to 150. Students now have to sign up and get a ticket from Neubeck to attend. Leaders are hoping this will keep the group intimate and discourage students who are only interested in skipping classes from attending meetings.
The “open and comfortable” and “organic” environment of SRC is unique to South, said Neubeck. At no other school has there been a program like SRC in its success. Washburn High School started an SRC group, but it is much smaller. Wicklund thinks that SRC has so many people that attend meetings because mental illness affects everyone. “A lot of people that struggle [with mental illness] can turn to someone,” said Wicklund.
“[SRC] speaks to a need,” said Neubeck. People come for all different reasons and from all different backgrounds. “[Students] are trying to find answers,” she stated. Answers, she said, that they can’t get other places.