Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Members of AWWA — Accepting Who We Are — at Eisenhower High School include, from left, Peyton Kellogg, Kiley Youngberg, Alyssa Wismar, Nicole Hitchcock, and Andrew Allen. The group is working to encourage a message of positive mental health through the school and community.

Students at Eisenhower High School are working on mental health.

The AWWA group — Accepting Who We Are — formed this year after the deaths of students at Warren Area High School impacted students district-wide.

Two students approached School Counselor Lori Hahn on the same day to see what they could do.

“They were concerned and wanted to have more discussion of mental health in the school,” Hahn said. “We started brainstorming and we came up with the AWWA group.”

The students have identified some topics of importance — like anxiety and stress — to the student body.

The group meets regularly — once a week — with varying attendance, depending on other activities.

“Sometimes we have 10, sometimes five or six,” Hahn said.

“Usually, Mrs. Hahn will teach us something about mental health,” Peyton Kellogg said. “We journal about it. We talk about it.”

“Recently, we’ve been talking about Mental Health Awareness Week and what we can do with that,” Kellogg said.

During the week of May 9, AWWA will hold special dress-up theme events with messages each day.

To start the week, the members will be putting notes with inspirational messages on lockers, Andrew Allen said.

Students will be encouraged to wear their pajamas to school on Mellow Monday as a symbol that everyone needs to rest and relax. Along with that will be tips on how to manage stress and anxiety, Hahn said.

Tuesday is Twin Day to help remind students — “you aren’t alone,” Alyssa Wismar said.

“Twin Tuesday will be our Suicide Awareness Day,” Hahn said.

On Wear Green Wednesday, “we’re giving out green ribbons,” Kiley Youngberg said. “Green represents mental health.”

“Colors can represent a variety of emotions,” according to the group. Tie Dye Thursday is a reminder that expressing those emotions is OK. The mental health resource for the day is calming strategies.

Matching with Friday’s Mental Health Matters theme and strategies for supporting others, with the permission of Principal Erika Alm, the group is going to have high schoolers and elementary students ‘buddy up’ and have a little bonding time in the afternoon.

On Friday, those who have them are encouraged to wear the Mental Health fundraising shirts available through Icyy Ink.

“We decided to sell shirts with all proceeds to benefit local mental health organizations,” Allen said.

“We’re hoping to help bring in a speaker to help address some of the things that have happened this year,” Hahn said. During this school year, two district students and two district teachers have died.

“I know one of the kids we lost,” Wismar said.

She said she came to school “shaken up” and “in tears” the next day.

She wanted to do “anything we can do to help.”

“I really like helping people,” Allen said. “If we could help change someone’s mind on them wanting to take their life… it would be worth it.”

The group is having an impact.

Hahn said her “middle school lunch bunch” has ideas to share and wants to collaborate with AWWA.

“It’s going really well,” Wismar said. “I kind of assumed we’d get maybe one other person. A lot of kids bottle up their emotions and don’t talk about them at all.”

“I have noticed that the school is starting to get a lot more light-hearted,” she said. “Everybody just stepped back. We’re willing to reach into our mental health more.”