Drawing for stress relief: Karns City students teach others how art can improve mental health
KARNS CITY — The people teaching art to seventh-grade students at Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School on Wednesday, May 7, had recently been in those students’ shoes and wanted to help prepare them for the emotional changes they could soon face.
High school students in Marneice Liput’s business classes received a $1,000 grant from Keystone Wellness Programs, which they put toward materials to lead art classes for seventh-grade students.
Kimberly Andrews, health educator and program coordinator for Keystone Wellness Programs, attended the relaxation art session Wednesday morning, and said the grant application focused on addressing feelings of stress and anxiety in youths.
“They did some research on what age groups were affected by anxiety,” Andrews said. “So they chose seventh grade because they’re teaching it before high school, and they could ramp it up for that.”
A group of about six students in ninth through 12th grades led the seventh-grade students in coloring and art Wednesday, and also supplied doughnuts and beverages for the session.
Some of the students credited the idea to Maelynn Horstman, a ninth-grader at Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School. Maelynn said that when she learned about the grant, which was for projects that promoted health and healthy outlets, she chose to submit a grant for art and its effect on mental health.
“I wanted to do something that I feel like is overlooked, like anxiety,” Maelynn said. “I think a lot of people just don’t think it’s that important, and mental health altogether, I wanted to show the importance of it.”
Maelynn also said she finds art to be a good stress reliever.
“That’s what I use as a way to deal with anxiety, I like to draw,” Maelynn said.
Getting the art session together on Wednesday was a long process. Dudley Borja, a ninth-grade student at Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School, said the students had to learn how to write grants and pitch their idea to people who could help make it a reality.
“Maelynn came up with the idea, and we followed along,” Dudley said. “Christiana (Macurak, a ninth-grade student at Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School) helped pick out the front cover, she came up with all the resources; Maelynn wrote it all down; and I came up with the budget form.”
Liput said its purpose is to teach the students how to go about financing programs and projects. Additionally, students had to contact businesses and organizations to request additional materials, such as food and beverages.
“They have to write the whole grant,” Liput said. “It’s a vigorous project … I make them call people for donations and to get things they need.”
According to Andrews, Keystone Wellness has worked with Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School on this grant program for about the past 10 years. The group of students who applied this year, however, was particularly impressive in how it communicated their goals and followed the guidelines for using grant funding.
“These groups blew me away this year,” Andrews said. “Their grades were the highest we ever received. They asked great questions, they were ahead of schedule the whole time. They send in their receipts.”
A different class of Liput’s planned to have a volleyball tournament with money it received from another Keystone Wellness grant. Andrews said these projects for elementary and middle school students led by high-schoolers could be more impactful on the young students, because they may better relate to people close to their age.
“With self-guided learning, it’s incredible to see how the kids do it,” Andrews said. “Peer-to-peer is so important.”
As she watched over the younger students drawing pictures and coloring, Christiana said she thought the program went well. She said it was nice to not only work with adults to procure the grant and spend the money, but to also work with students just a few years younger than her with an outlet that she, too, enjoyed.
“They could just write down how they’re feeling and how they’re doing,” Christiana said.
