Acclaimed American cultural anthropologist, Margaret Meade (Dec. 1, 1901 – Nov. 16, 1978) once wrote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

This quotation describes the eight high school students – freshmen and sophomores – who responded to and completed the 2024 Aspen Challenge at Mission Bay High School, earning the People’s Choice Award and an additional $500 to continue into next year.

In the spring of 2023, the San Diego Unified School District was allowed to participate in the 2024 Aspen Challenge. Launched by the Aspen Institute and the Bezos Family Foundation, Aspen Challenge (aspenchallenge.org) participants are empowered to use their imagination, enthusiasm, competitive spirit, and sense of global citizenship to solve some of society’s toughest problems.

Each year, the Aspen Challenge partners with an urban school district in a new city. Twenty high schools are invited to participate, and each high school forms a team of eight students and two educators who serve as coaches. Mission Bay High responded to the invitation. Echo Jacoway (APES and IB bio teacher) and Nathan Sheehy (English Department) volunteered to coach the team and started inviting and recruiting students. In the fall of 2023, the team’s eight members were announced: Freshmen Delilah Zerofski and Madison Davis, and sophomores Iris Brogan, Dylan Talarico-Smith, Natalie Chen, Matilda Mayer, Yemaya Bruce, and Tegan Gryzb.

Mission Bay’s first formal meeting for the Aspen Challenge was at the Challenge Meeting in February at The Prado in Balboa Park with the 19 other high school teams from the San Diego Unified School District. During this day-long event, the 160 high school students (20 schools with eight students on a team) and their faculty coaches heard five challenges from inspirational and dynamic speakers from the Aspen Challenge organizing and presentation team.

1.) The challenge is to lead a campaign that raises awareness about homelessness prevention efforts in the City of San Diego and reduces the stigma that families might experience by accessing services.

2.) The challenge is to design an innovative approach for helping youth effectively navigate their mental health journey by creating a roadmap that will connect them to resources to support their wellness.

3.) The challenge to center migrant and immigrant populations by creating a program aimed at educating your community on human rights and promoting human dignity, regardless of immigration status.

4.) The challenge is to inspire your community to habitually use fewer single-use plastics to keep trash out of the ocean ecosystems.

5.) The challenge to design a program that engages students, parents, and schools to become champions for connection to intentionally decrease chronic absenteeism and increase academic excellence.

It took little time for the Mission Bay team to decide and accept their challenge: To create an innovative approach to help youth effectively navigate their mental health journey by creating a road map to connect them to resources to support their wellness.

Eight weeks after accepting the challenge, the Mission Bay team had to share the results of their project back at The Prado in Balboa Park on May 1 at the Aspen Challenge Solutions Showcase.

The team had a great deal to do: create and design a solution that connects young people to mental health resources, reduces the stigma of seeking out wellness resources, and creates events to test their newly designed approaches.

The name selected by the team was Mediums of Mental Health – Mission Bay High School. The team carefully budgeted the initial $500 provided by the Aspen Challenge and gathered additional contributions and donations.

“We are called ‘The Mediums of Mental Health’ because we used the different ‘mediums’ of art to help guide people through their mental health journey and lead them to resources for any issues they may be having,” said Brogan. “We have created two interactive murals, a website, an Instagram account, and several art-related activities.”

Their ideas and solutions were put into practice at five community events in April. The Library Art Workshop on April 9, Barnard STEAM Day on April 13, two school-wide wellness events at Mission Bay High School on April 17-18, and their final event on April 21, the SchoolYard Dash/Fun Run at De Anza Cove.

These presentations left impressions on the Mediums for Mental Health team members. “What shocked me the most was the amount of people, from elementary age to adults, who did not know much about mental health,” Chen said. “I remember asking a kid once about what he thought mental health was and he responded ‘Is it like a disease?’ After explaining what mental health is, he did eventually grasp the concept enough to be able to explain it again to his friend, however, this response was pretty startling to me. It made me think about how negatively mental health is perceived and the stigma that surrounds it.”

“After we finished going through our activities and educating his two kids on the topic of mental health, he came up to us and thanked us for our work, saying that he was very impressed with us and that we took on this challenge because he grew up where talking about mental health was seen as weak and was something so hidden, that he was very happy to see that we were embracing mental health and letting the youth know that it was okay to not be okay,” Grzyb said.

“At one event, an attendee praised our initiative, stating, ‘It is amazing that you guys are educating kids on mental health so young,’” Davis said. “This is something that needs to be taught in society. This quote inspired me to put my all into working on our project.”

Talarico loved watching how excited kids are when they get to the booth or event. “Especially at our library event,” Talarico said, “There were these two little girls who stayed two full hours and went through all the stations at least three times; they were so excited and happy!”

The last days of April found the Mediums for Mental Health team preparing and rehearsing for the Aspen Challenge Showcase on May 1. This was a full-day event from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Additional benefits of the day included hearing truly high-quality solutions to social and environmental problems, meeting like-minded and talented peers from other high schools, and leaving tired but inspired by the opportunity the Aspen Challenge made available to Mission Bay High School’s Mediums of Mental Health.

On stage during their presentation, the team explained: “We collected data from each of our events, such as participation counts, surveys, and quotes. We had over 450 people in attendance across our events. That’s more than 450 conversations that we started about mental health. We also collected testimonies that proved people not only enjoyed but benefited from our activities. On top of that, we impacted more than 1,300 people digitally.”

When questioned by the Aspen Challenge judges as to how the team will continue their commitment, the team responded: “Mission Bay High School is an IB (International Baccalaureate) school. The project will continue as part of a CAS, Community Action Service project, in our IB diploma course requirements and community work.”

The Aspen Challenge awarded Mission Bay High School the People’s Choice Award and an additional $500 to continue Mediums For Mental Health work into next year. “This has been a very important subject to us and we cannot wait to continue this project outside of just the Aspen Challenge next year,” Brogan said.

When asked about the impact this experience has had on her, Zerofski said: “This challenge would be impossible without the incredible and hardworking team that Mission Bay has. We all have unique skill sets and perspectives, and everyone has contributed immensely. I am forever grateful for the friends and connections I have formed through this project.”

“Our group has had such a good time together,” Meyer said. “We have become closer, shared our mental health journeys, and supported each other throughout the whole challenge. I have become closer with my teammates and teachers, I have become more invested in this school, and become more encouraged to make a difference within my school.”

“This process [the Aspen Challenge] has taught us so much about wellness, mindfulness, teamwork, problem-solving, building confidence, and so much more,” Bruce said. “I am extremely grateful to be paired with such amazing, intelligent, talented, heartwarming individuals. Not only did the Aspen Challenge bring us closer together, but it showcased our lights shining brighter together!”