On Feb. 24-28, student organizations Reach Out Care Know (ROCK) and Bring Change to Mind collaborated with the Wellness Center and multiple mental health organizations to host the first Mental Health Awareness Week. The week consisted of activities during lunch at the senior quad, as well as a movie night after school and a charity walk over the weekend.

ROCK is a student club that works toward destigmatizing mental health in the community. After months of discussion during the fall, ROCK co-presidents seniors Gwen Dunlap and Abigail Sullivan joined forces with Bring Change to Mind president senior Phebe Cox, whose organization also advocates for mental health and works toward greater education on the topic. Together, they communicated with the Wellness Center, Student Activities Director Lisa Hall and schools that hosted similar weeks to establish a solid plan for the event.

Although Gunn has hosted several wellness activities, this year marked the first official Mental Health Awareness Week. “The difference was that in the past, they had tried to do it solely run by staff and SEC,” Sullivan said. “This time, we kind of took initiative; it was a lot more student-led.”

The Wellness Center staff also points out the difference in having a student-run event. “The most important thing about these types of events [is] that it comes from people that you can relate to,” wellness outreach worker Rosie Castillo said. “If adults are doing it all the time, then nobody’s going to want to take part in it. Nobody’s going to think that it’s important because adults are telling you that it’s important.”

Some events included small, hands-on activities such as Stop the Stigma, where students wrote their thoughts on mental health stigmatization on post-it notes, or the hanging posters that symbolized solidarity. Other events consisted of more far-reaching activities, such as Wednesday’s wellness fair. The event hosted stands for various organizations around the Bay Area advocating for mental health, wellness and civic engagement.

Roya Mason, a representative from the youth mental health clinic Bay Area Clinical Associates, pointed out that the level of student engagement often differed with some activities. “I find that it’s hard to engage students with just tabling,” Mason said. “I would definitely want to figure out [how to be] more casual in some ways with my students and talk to them and not be so weird. You know, make it human.”

Because of this, some of the most beneficial events were ones that encouraged more laid- back engagement. According to Sullivan and Cox, one of the most impactful events was the student panel on Thursday during Social and Emotional Literacy and Functionality classes. During that time, a variety of representatives visited to answer student questions, including professional psychiatrists and therapists, members from the Wellness Center, counseling, Support Services for Youth and psychology teacher Haley Perkins. In addition, several members of Project Oyster, a student-run podcast emphasizing teenage struggles and mental health, were present during the event. “We had a good group of panelists,” Sullivan said. “It was a really good way to bring everything together and showcase all the things we have, but also really allow for students to get answers to basic questions and relate to people on a more personal level.” Cox elaborated on this sentiment. “[The panel] covered a lot of serious topics that could be triggering for students,” Cox said. “So I think I think it was important to kind of get all of those people there.”

Student favorites were the chalk drawing activity and the movie night showing “The Pursuit of Happyness” on Friday, Feb. 28, as well as the third Reaching Out Saves Lives walk and fundraiser on Saturday, Feb. 29. The mental health walk consisted of a five kilometer round trip from Gunn’s track to Bol Park, and all proceeds raised during the fundraiser were donated to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. The community event also had food booths, confetti and stands for various organizations.

Club members and Wellness Center staff hope Mental Health Awareness Week can become a regular event. “I think overall, it was really good for the first one,” Cox said. “I definitely want a lot more discussion; maybe small groups or something to talk about it afterwards.” Castillo hopes that more student-driven wellness activities will encourage outreach. “If it comes from students that are open about sharing their own experiences and why this type of work is important to them, it has a much bigger impact,” Castillo said. “When you look at little pockets of people here and there, and you see that there’s more people who are using our job and services, I think little changes like that really do show that there is some sort of impact.”

Sullivan also points out that while Mental Health Awareness Week is not targeted toward everyone, it still serves as a foundation for a supportive community. “There are quite few people who [were] probably like, ‘Oh, this week isn’t for me.’ And that’s important because not everyone needs a mental health professional,” she said. “It may not make a huge difference, but small things can make the campus a happier place, even if you don’t notice it at first.”

The Student Activities Office, a campus staple, holds a constant stream of visitors on the daily. But behind every transaction, purchase and student inquiry sits Leslie Kousnetz: a woman with endless patience, empathy and accounting knowledge.

On a typical day, Kousnetz handles apparel purchases, ticket sales, ID distributions and reimbursements for clubs. Behind the scenes, Kousnetz discusses the logistics for fundraisers, balances budgets and participates in multiple district accounting meetings.

Any student-body-related financial information is exclusive to Kousnetz. “I have to go protect it [from] everybody. Even the principal,” she said. “You have to get student approval… [the district] is not supposed to mix [student] money with site money.”

During her 13 years at Gunn, Kousnetz witnessed the SAO undergo major renovations and relocations. “The [first] building wasn’t healthy, everything was unhealthy,” she said. She described infestations of spiders and rats, which lead to a temporary relocation for two years. “It was so dusty that even one night, the rats would actually [leave] footprints,” Kousnetz said. “Oh boy; it’s been a great improvement since I’ve gotten here.”

One popular improvement is the availability of tea and snacks. “We said, ‘How can we make the SAC more fun to come [to]?’” Kousnetz said. This led to the SAO providing hot chocolate, which expanded to tea, snacks and even ramen. Kousnetz explained that this change brought a unique feature to the SAO, distinguishing it from other student spaces like the library and Wellness Center.

This idea reflects on Kousnetz as a person as well. “Over time I have been there enough where kids see me as a confidant,” she said. “After 13 years, you get to know kids like they’re your own.”

One of the most difficult challenges is maintaining the workload while being short-staffed. The lack of staff members and volunteers has pushed the morning opening hours to the afternoon, while yearly events such as prom congest the SAO activity tenfold.

Nevertheless, it’s Kousnetz’ flexibility and kindness that perseveres. “It’s not about the paycheck. It is that I help someone today,” she said. “Maybe I help someone get inspired to go to college, or not quit school, or get involved in government or maybe want to be an accountant.”

Read, cast, practice, perform and repeat; for 37 years, performing arts teacher James Shelby has been sharing his passion for theatre with his students.

After a year of the Stanford Teaching Education Program, Shelby arrived at Gunn in the fall of 1983 when he was 28 years old. At the time, Gunn appeared to have no more available slots when he went looking for an open position for teaching English. Upon arriving at an informational interview, however, he was offered a teaching position for his first love: theatre.

Shelby found this opportunity a pleasant surprise, and described the interview positively. “It’s like going on a date that wasn’t a date, and you didn’t know you were dating,” he said. However, Shelby recalls an emotional and maturing development as well. “It’s like a standing wave in a river,” he said. “It’s new water all the time…with the standing wave of great, excited, thrilling 14 to 18 year old kids, [but] I get older as they come. So, my perspective with them has definitely changed.”

Despite his many years of teaching, Shelby makes sure his classes are never boring, whether it’s by switching the curriculum or bringing in new materials. Even when cycling through the same play, there’s always a fresh change. “Everything about it is different, yet it resonates. So it’s sort of old and new every time,” Shelby explained. “And I have new kids. For goodness sakes, I teach ‘Hamlet’ every other year. You go, ‘Oh, don’t you get tired of it?’ and I never ever do.”

One of Shelby’s favorite memories was in 2001, when he directed “Romeo and Juliet.” He was considering stopping teaching theatre, but changed his mind while watching the play unfold. “The last moment was chilling to me,” he said. “The audience [felt] it and I felt it. And I realized ‘Crap, I can’t quit theater. I love it too much.’”

Ultimately, it’s the students that bring Shelby back every year. “Young people that come into my world are creative,” he said. “I have the best students and best community in the world. It couldn’t have been a luckier twist of fate for me.”