Earlier in the spring of last school year one of the most nerve-wracking experiences for highschoolers at BK happened to me— I was called into the counselor’s office and I hadn’t made an appointment. Thankfully, it turns out I was not being called in to be accused of cyberbullying or academic dishonesty, but to be told I was being selected to be chosen as a student ambassador for a program started by Boise State, called BroncoBold, which advertised itself as having the ambitious, albeit honorable, overall goal of creating a space within high schools in the Treasure Valley to advocate and normalize the mental health challenges many teenagers face.
After being accepted as an ambassador school in August, all student representatives from the selected schools as well as certain administrators headed to Boise State for a day-long summit. I think I speak for all students who attended this summit when I say we left inspired and ready to instigate change with the new skills we had cultivated, as well as grateful to Boise State for being the starting point for this kind of change.
Throughout the process of developing BKBold, Bishop Kelly’s very own student-led mental health initiative, I feel I have not only learned how to be an advocate for mental health, but how deeply mental health is entrenched within Bishop Kelly’s student body. After speaking to a friend of mine, a student ambassador at Boise High, I realized the extent to which Bishop Kelly lacked the infrastructure to discuss mental health. Of course, while we have our incredible counseling department, sometimes that is not enough. The biggest impact, I have come to find, is when students can become quintessential models for what it looks like to be a student, an athlete, and someone with mental health. For student-athletes and team captains at Bishop Kelly to be able to say, “We have mental health. Your struggles are the same as our struggles.” As BKBold’s slogan states, “Knights don’t fight alone.”
Overarchingly, that is the message that I hope is spread through BK’s mental health initiative, that mental health struggles are real, a serious issue that teenagers face, but also overcomable with support and a loving community. My vision for BKBold is that it will continue to foster what Bishop Kelly already has in place— a loving, faith-filled community where no one fights alone.
The Bishop Kelly Newspaper 