Superintendent Ernest F. Houle is pleased to share that Assabet Regional Vocational Technical High School students have designed posters for a student-derived mental health awareness campaign called Uniquely United.
The Uniquely United campaign is a student-driven initiative that was created to inform students and staff at Assabet about the signs of anxiety and stress, and to offer opportunities to manage that stress in healthy and productive ways. The campaign is intended to build a sense of belonging, acceptance, and compassion within the Assabet community.
Grade 11 Design and Visual Communication (DVC) students joined with the Mental Health Team to design awareness posters as part of the campaign.
To create the posters, students applied industry-standard processes. They began by conducting research on mental health at Assabet by creating online surveys and order forms. They analyzed the data, collaborated with team members, participated in group critiques and meetings, managed workflow, created timelines, and executed visual design solutions that solved the defined problem.
Students then professionally presented their solutions to their client, Assabet Psychologist Dr. Shannon Barry.
While working on the project, design students allowed themselves to be more open and vulnerable with their own experiences of mental health issues.
“We all shared a little bit of our own challenges with stress, anxiety, depression, and gender identity, and these discussions transformed an already great class into an extraordinary class,” said Deborah Harper, Assabet’s DVC teacher. “Uniquely United continues to be a rewarding student-driven project intended to unify our community and find peace and acceptance in our differences. Every individual is unlike any other individual. Being unique is a birthright and being united is building a collective consciousness of acceptance and support.”
The students hope that by having the tools and strategies accessible to all, as the Uniquely United campaign promotes, their peers will feel comforted by the idea that they are part of a supportive community at Assabet.
“It’s important that we equip our young adults with knowledge and skills that support living physically and emotionally healthy lives,” said Superintendent Houle. “Congratulations to students and staff involved in this important project, and thank you for your commitment to spreading awareness of mental health issues. You are actively making our school community a better place for all.”