A local student club’s message on mental health is reverberating across the country.
Aevidum, a nationwide nonprofit organization that promotes awareness about student mental-health issues, has recently designated its chapter at the Northwest Area School District as the “Aevidum Club of the Year.” Northwest Area was selected among hundreds of clubs throughout Pennsylvania and several other states.
Jim Martin, a 12th grade learning-support teacher and an Aevidum advisor at Northwest Area, said he was “shocked” when he learned of the award and that the excitement among his students was palpable.
“It really means the world to me,” Martin said. “The kids have worked really hard. So many of the kids have really brought…the message of Aevidum and they’ve taken it to heart.”
Northwest Area Secondary Principal Ryan Miner said he was hopeful the award could help the club promote the Aevidum message and demonstrates Northwest Area’s commitment to the mental health of its students.
“I think it helps…to tear down that stigma of mental health, because they’re being recognized for doing something good.” Miner said. “It provides those students in our school with the message that it’s O.K. to talk about it if you’re struggling with something.”
Around 60 Northwest Area students are part of the school’s Aevidum Club, with membership open to everyone from seniors to seventh graders. Martin said it was a group meant to foster a welcoming atmosphere hospitable to conversations around mental health. The club hosts regular events from team-building activities to group discussions based upon what Martin called the “four pillars” of Aevidum – acceptance, acknowledgement, appreciation, and care.
“The club is really set up to help break down the stigma behind mental-health disorders and mental illness,” Martin said. “One of the things we always try to push here is the idea of ‘there’s hope and recovery…there is help out there. We can overcome the challenges with the support of our community and our friends and family.”
Ryleigh Madl, a Northwest Area junior who has been in the club since ninth grade, said Aevidum has become important to her over the last three years and she was proud to help students in need. She said she was “really honored” by the award and glad to have their efforts recognized.
“We want to make sure everybody feels safe, seen, and heard,” Madl said. “It makes a huge difference showing how much we really do for the club and the people around us.”
Hannah Newell, a Northwest Area freshman who joined Aevidum in eighth grade, said she took similar pride in the club’s work and its newly won national prestige.
“I was truly honored, I felt like we really deserved it,” Newell said. “Every club member really tried their hardest to get the word out and make Aevidum a safe and happy place for everybody and make sure everyone’s heard.”
The Club of the Year award reflects the club members’ commitment to promoting their message of mental health awareness among their Northwest Area classmates and proselytizing for the Aevidum cause across the commonwealth. Northwest Area has hosted four sessions of the Aevidum event called the “Talk Workshop” in which students from other schools have visited and are led through Aevidum activities by the Northwest Area’s club leaders. On Feb. 19, members of the Northwest Area Aevidum club delivered a presentation about their work during an Aevidum Talk Workshop at Central Cambria High School on Thursday.
A picture of the Club of the Year award posted on the Northwest Area Aevidum page on Instagram honors the club for “nurturing Aevidum throughout their own community, spreading Aevidum to new regions, and exemplifying true leadership.”
Madl said she was hopeful that the success of the Aevidum program at Northwest Area can serve as an inspiration for students at other schools considering building up their own Aevidum clubs.
“I really think us receiving that award can really help other schools and other clubs really do more,” Madl said. “And that could really give them confidence that they need that maybe they didn’t have.”
“It gives us more opportunities to spread the message, not only here in our school, but with other schools as well,” Newell added.
The distinction comes as Northwest Area Aevidum club is celebrating its decennial. Martin, who is in his 19th year of teaching at Northwest Area and was a founding advisor to the club, said the club was the first of its kind in Luzerne County when it was founded. He thanked the Northwest Area for its support over the decade, as well as his fellow advisors, including Abbie Corcoran, a mental-health coordinator from Northeast Counseling; Sidney Mistysyn, an eighth grade special education and learning-support teacher; and Marylillian Stepanski, a school counselor.
Miner, who first brought the club to Miner’s attention 10 years ago and recommended he help the group, said he had seen the club grow dramatically and reach a growing number of students.
“When Jim and I sat down to take a chance with Aevidum and really look at it, I gave it to him, because I know he’s so passionate about working with mental health,” Miner said. “It really is a total team effort about giving our kids opportunities to step into leadership roles.”
This growth of Northwest Area into a nationally esteemed Aevidum program mirrors the individual growth of its students.
“The club is only as good as the kids that are in it,” Martin said. “I can see so many of those kids, how they’ve grown over the last couple of years and just really have become leaders.”
Aevidum’s impact is something to which Newell, the Northwest Area freshman, can personally testify.
“It truly changed my life,” Newell said. “It let me know that there are other people that are struggling that you might not even know are struggling. It’s so simple, but so important to just check up on people and ask if they’re O.K.”