Voices of Excellence, better known as VOE, is a Springfield Township High School student organization led by director Mr. Thompson. This December, the club held a Mental Health Day for the high school, where students had the flexibility of going to multiple rooms centered around mental health, featuring information sessions and coping mechanism activities led by mental health professionals and teachers.
Student Leadership in Action
Junior Caleb Bronson and sophomore Sarah Bell were the two VOE leaders behind the day, along with numerous other members. Bell says “VOE’s main goal was to give insight to the student body about mental health tactics, how to relieve stress, and that they can reach out and don’t have to feel shame in not being ok.”
The first time an event like this had been planned was in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. VOE decided to do it again this year. Bronson said planning for this event took a while, stating, “We planned it last year, but we started doing all the processes this year.”
From there, they began what Bronson called a “pretty stressful but overall fun” experience. To make the day “come to life,” Bell explains they had to “reach out to a lot of people, get recommendations from people, and… [create a] the layout for the day.” One of the biggest steps was finding mental health professionals; Bell noted Mrs. Foster “gave [them] a list… of mental health professionals that would probably love to come here and help out.” From there, they got others through district recommendations. Bronson further described the process: “We had a lot of meetings going over what needed to be done, how to set up the schedule for [the day], how to contact all the leaders, and just how to communicate through this all.”
Other leaders helped put the day together and led groups during the event. Sara Sharpe, a senior member and CEO of VOE, says she “helped…organize it but more from the sidelines… [and assisted] Mr. T in helping the other people.” The role of CEO took on a lot during the real day as she was “helping out the facilitators and also helping out the people in [her] section, and making sure they [knew] what they’re doing and they [knew] where they [were] going.”
There were four leadership groups (one for each grade), and each had a leader who guided the other VOE members. Chloe Dillard-Redmond, one of these leaders, described her role in planning: “I was in charge of the green group, and we started with the 9th graders, so I had to make sure that the people in my group knew the presenter that they were in charge of and know where they were going.”
Significance of the Day
According to Sharpe, “It’s really important for students to learn more about mental health and how they can cope with it and learn different strategies.”
Dillard-Redmond further describes how the mental health day showcased this major topic, saying, “Just going to the different sections and the different presenters, I feel like it definitely showed that there is a lot of diversity within mental health.”
Bell recognizes the value of the day and says, “It feels good knowing that I could at least have some impact on helping kids get insight on mental health.”
