{"id":402970,"date":"2026-04-21T06:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T06:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/402970\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T06:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T06:42:12","slug":"students-gather-around-green-for-annual-awareness-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/402970\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Gather Around Green for Annual Awareness Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leadership brought its annual<\/a> Awareness Week to the Green, inviting students, clubs, and community organizations to address some of today\u2019s most pressing issues. Each day highlighted a new topic, giving Bears a chance to explore important matters through activities and informational tables.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Monday: Disability Awareness<\/p>\n

Monday kicked off the week with a focus on the disabled community, shedding light on both mental and physical disabilities. Rather than simply handing out information, junior and event organizer Miya Yu* gave students something to do with their hands, crafting homemade stress balls with balloons and Play-Doh. The activity gave students a hands-on way to learn about tools that can help provide a physical outlet for releasing excess energy and help combat mental disabilities such as ADHD and anxiety.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really helps me stay focused and calm,\u201d junior Finn Doherty, one of the students who made a stress ball on Monday, said. \u201cI had a test the next period and it helped me keep my nerves down so I could think through my answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Sarah Coolican \/ M-A Chronicle Students make stress balls from balloons and clay.<\/p>\n

Tuesday: Voting Rights Awareness<\/p>\n

For the second day, voter engagement took the spotlight. Students learned about the importance of registering to vote and further understood how their participation matters. Junior Piper Rosenthal*, the student behind Tuesday\u2019s activities, had a table with QR codes for students to both register and pre-register to vote, ensuring they are signed up for their first eligible election. Students also had the chance to write letters to the government about causes they care about.<\/p>\n

Rosenthal created the lunch event to push back against the discouraged mindset of many young voters. \u201cA lot of the time, the idea is that \u2018My vote doesn\u2019t matter because I\u2019m just one person,\u2019 but if everyone thinks like that, that\u2019s going to lead to a bigger issue of nobody voting,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, registering to vote is really important, because especially in politics these days, having a say in the election does have an impact,\u201d senior Gabby Rothstein, one of the many students who registered to vote on Tuesday, said. \u201cRight now, I think there needs to be a change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Sarah Coolican \/ M-A Chronicle Sign for register to vote booth.<\/p>\n

Wednesday: Environmental Awareness<\/p>\n

Halfway through the week, students turned their attention to the planet. Environmental Awareness Day filled the Green with displays and activities created by students in AP Environmental Science, displaying the relationship between human habits and their impact on the environment. One booth drew students in with a surprising spin: a blind milk taste test. The booth offered six types of milk and milk alternatives for students to sample, ranging from almond milk to whole milk. Students had to guess which type they were drinking before learning about the carbon footprint associated with each kind of milk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to raise awareness about the carbon footprint of dairy products or common materials, and the production of them,\u201d junior Harper Williams said. \u201cA lot of times, people don\u2019t realize that the milk that they\u2019re drinking every day has that much of a carbon footprint.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Sarah Coolican \/ M-A Chronicle Students explain the environmental impact of different clothing.<\/p>\n

Thursday: Gender and Sexuality Awareness<\/p>\n

Thursday was all about community and belonging. Students were invited to sign up for clubs and organizations that support LGBTQ+ students and empower women\u2019s voices on campus. The Pink Ribbon Alliance, a breast cancer awareness club, was one group among the booths, using candy and a sign-up sheet to welcome potential members.<\/p>\n

\u201cAwareness week is just helping people around campus to know more about these certain issues,\u201d junior and M-A Feminists club leader Juliet West said. \u201cToday is Gender and Sexuality Day, and we\u2019re just trying to inform our people about certain issues that women go through daily through our trivia game.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Sarah Coolican \/ M-A Chronicle Students draw and write notes.<\/p>\n

Friday: Mental Health Awareness<\/p>\n

On the last day, multiple organizations came together to provide information on youth mental health, offering resources, support, and guidance. The Al-Anon organization, which set up its own booth, provides , anonymous support groups tohelp people navigate a friend or family member\u2019s alcohol or drug abuse. Alateen, one of the organization\u2019s branches, offers a program designed for teenagers facing similar situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust knowing that other people have similar struggles and that you can support each other and talk to each other about it anonymously, I think it\u2019s important,\u201d Deborah Sanders, an adult representative for Al-Anon, said.<\/p>\n

Sanders, who grew up with an alcoholic father, shared that finding community support had a great impact on her own life.\u201dI just feel so much more at peace,\u201d she said. \u201cTalking to other people who are in the same situation really helps you see the clarity of how much you physically can\u2019t change another person, but you can still love them and support them,\u201d Sanders added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Yimeng Cai \/ M-A Chronicle Groups display flyers for volunteer and summer opportunities.<\/p>\n

*Miya Yu and Piper Rosenthal are journalists for the M-A Chronicle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leadership brought its annual Awareness Week to the Green, inviting students, clubs, and community organizations to address some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-402970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}