Stanton said pressure builds from multiple directions: academics, extracurriculars, college decisions and social media expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really feel like it\u2019s a combination, a combination of everything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
At the same time, federal health data show<\/a> youth mental health concerns rising nationwide. Nearly 60% of U.S. teen girls reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in recent surveys, and about 30% said they had seriously considered suicide.<\/p>\n Stanton avoided social media until this year after seeing how it affected peers. She advises fellow high school students and their parents to do the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI wonder who\u2019s going to like my stuff, I wonder what they\u2019re going to say about this post and that post. And that\u2019s everyone,\u201d Stanton said.<\/p>\n District leaders say that kind of strain is increasingly common \u2014 even among students who appear most successful, such as a class president.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen they leave the community of Crowley, where we\u2019ve celebrated them and told them how great they are, they reach real life and they don\u2019t know how to face it,\u201d said Trina Lane, executive director of counseling services. \u201cI mean our students, socially and emotionally, they crash.\u201d<\/p>\n The Mind Over Medals Mental Health Summit brought together student-athletes, fine arts performers and student leaders for panel discussions, workshops and a keynote from Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman and North Crowley graduate Tyler Smith.<\/p>\n The district\u2019s focus includes students whose struggles may be least visible, Lane said.<\/p>\n \u201cI look at that invisible child, like the high achiever,\u201d she said. \u201cNobody thinks that that person is going to need mental health because they have it all together. They\u2019re visible to the public but emotionally invisible to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith, who graduated from North Crowley in 2019 after receiving a full-ride scholarship to play football at the University of Tulsa, told the Fort Worth Report returning to speak felt personal.<\/p>\n \u201cDefinitely a full-circle moment for sure,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI\u2019m just happy to be able to do this, to come back to where I\u2019m from and have a platform and a message.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he felt pressure as a student but rarely spoke about it.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt the pressure to be successful the same way anybody else does, and it wasn\u2019t something that I did talk about a lot,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt was something I felt deeply, something that I obviously internalized.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking back, he wishes he was more honest with himself, his coaches, friends and family, he said. Now in the NFL, he uses all support available to him, including therapists, personal assistants and fitness coaches.<\/p>\n Smith told students he hopes conversations around mental health are more open than when he was growing up, which wasn\u2019t long ago, he noted.<\/p>\n That cultural shift, or normalizing conversations about mental health for both students and parents, is what the district hopes to encourage, Lane said.<\/p>\n \u201cI just don\u2019t think we talked a lot about that stuff,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt was more about having that outward appearance of being successful and looking like I had it all figured out.\u201d<\/p>\n Now that he\u2019s reached his goal of playing football at the highest level \u2014 and signed a four-year contract in September<\/a> worth $96 million \u2014 Smith said strength looks different than he once believed. He wishes it didn\u2019t take him so long to find out.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cStrength is the willingness to be vulnerable,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_5535-1024x768.jpeg\")
Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman and North Crowley High School graduate Tyler Smith speaks to students during Crowley ISD\u2019s Mind Over Medals Mental Health Summit on Feb. 13 at North Crowley High School. (Matthew Sgroi | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n