Project Need
We have decided to focus on mental health at Bassett because it determines your willingness to succeed. Without a strong mental stability there is a lack of confidence that leads to self harm or harm of others. There were not enough resources on campus to help students cope with anxiety and depression. By sharing our resources and teaching students how to cope, we hope to bring more awareness and self confidence to the people in our community,
Process
On November 6, 2019, we planned our project in room 315 at Bassett High School. That day, we gave a rule to each lady in our chapter of Girls Build LA.
-Project Managers: Marina, Lucia, Jessica
- Social Media: Cynthia. Miroslava, Valarie
-Web Designer: Stephanie, Leslie
-Graphic Designer: Leslie, Azucena
-Photographer: Jesyca, Chelsea, Alyssa
-Videographer: Brianna, Alexia
-File Manager: Jennifer
We also brainstormed what idea and projects we wanted to do this year. We came up with grams, stress relief workshops, talks about feminine hygiene, self defense workshops, and our Expo.
-Project Managers: Marina, Lucia, Jessica
- Social Media: Cynthia. Miroslava, Valarie
-Web Designer: Stephanie, Leslie
-Graphic Designer: Leslie, Azucena
-Photographer: Jesyca, Chelsea, Alyssa
-Videographer: Brianna, Alexia
-File Manager: Jennifer
We also brainstormed what idea and projects we wanted to do this year. We came up with grams, stress relief workshops, talks about feminine hygiene, self defense workshops, and our Expo.
Important Dates
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Civic Engagement
The way we got students to come out and engage in our workshops was by promoting workshops on social media that would interest the majority of students at Bassett High School. We would put posters up around the school and ask people individually about what interested them in order to have a successful workshop. We also constructed polls on Instagram and had surveys online to find out what the students liked and felt about how the environment was in school.
Outcome
Our goal for Team Girl is for the girls in our community to feel empowered, confident, and safe in our community. For the 2019-2020 school year we had many events and activities planned to help us achieve that goal. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all our plans for the later part of the school year were postponed or otherwise cancelled. We, therefore, did not achieve all that we set out to accomplish, but prior to the Corona Virus, we made great improvements to the Bassett High School Environment. We pushed our administration to provide feminine hygiene products in the girls restroom on a regular basis, we hosted various workshops centered around mental health, because we found a great need for such services on campus. We surveyed the students and figured out how to best serve our student population.
Evidence
Self-Care Workshops Student Self Evaluation
Average of Student Self Evaluations from Self-Care Workshops including Stress balls & Aromatherapy, Meditation & Tea, Positive Affirmations Coloring Activities, and Puppy therapy. The majority of the students that went to one of our workshops felt a significant increase in feeling calm, happy, & relaxed, and felt a decrease in feeling tense & worried.
Before
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After
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Reflection
Overall we have tackled anxiety and depression, We have worked through exercises to use and meditate. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, our plans were definitely cut short. We had dates planned for self defense workshops, more bonding exercises, and an expo with about 40 guest speakers. Some of the biggest barriers we are facing are getting people to participate. The numbers at our school are low to begin with, but with distance learning there are far less people willing to show up. Our ways to get people included grams and giveaways, and our social media still active. However, we aren't receiving the responses we wanted but we will continue to work. Moving forward, we plan to schedule things earlier and to encourage more people to feel safe enough, and inspired enough, to join us.
Budget
Shirts-$165.35
Self Care-$30.64/February 15
Feminist Buttons, Cellophane Bags,-$40
Fruit snacks, Hair Scrunchies, Chewy Bars, Feminist Stickers-$58
Play Doh-46.72
Squishies-$12.55
Tea $9.04
Inspirational coloring book $6.84, $6.99 ($13.83)
Affirmation cards $13.13
Funnels $9.99
Water beads $6.99x2= (13.98)
Flic Flac-$12.88
Tea $19.46
Balloons $8.99
Essential Oils $19.99
Stress Less Cards-$12.60
Retreat/Food $187.42
Total= $681.56
Self Care-$30.64/February 15
Feminist Buttons, Cellophane Bags,-$40
Fruit snacks, Hair Scrunchies, Chewy Bars, Feminist Stickers-$58
Play Doh-46.72
Squishies-$12.55
Tea $9.04
Inspirational coloring book $6.84, $6.99 ($13.83)
Affirmation cards $13.13
Funnels $9.99
Water beads $6.99x2= (13.98)
Flic Flac-$12.88
Tea $19.46
Balloons $8.99
Essential Oils $19.99
Stress Less Cards-$12.60
Retreat/Food $187.42
Total= $681.56
Impact Report
Girls were empowered by the girly grams which included pads and motivational media. We got the admin to fill the feminine hygiene dispensers on campus and worked with the superintendent to communicate the need for the students. We were in the process of getting a location on campus to get additional feminine hygiene products available. We arranged for self defense workshops to be taught to students during lunch (they had to get rescheduled). We offered three self defense workshops during lunch that were heavily attended and ended with puppies for students to de-stress during finals. In addition, we passed out healthy snack and hosted a lunchtime workout for girls. Most of our efforts went into a school-wide Wellness Expo that was scheduled for March. We had health care speakers, mental health, sex ed, and more. Unfortunately we had to postpone with over 40 speakers. Finally, we worked with planned parenthood to get some student certified as student outreach and had planned parenthood staff arranged to teach sex ed to our science classes (something that was not happening before). Our girls were focused on in person events that did get 30-100 students at each event. From survey results, students felt better and more informed after participating in our workshops. Long term we hope to continue our project, offer more resources, and partner with more community members to teach students more about self care and staying well in all senses of the word.
