With September being Suicide Prevention Month, mental health awareness is more important than ever. Students all over the country have been battling with mental illness. Wantagh High School has made countless efforts to highlight mental health and to make the school a safe place where students can open up to their teachers. Iris Kline, Wantagh High School’s social worker, has devoted her time to notify students about clubs and extracurricular activities that can help raise awareness for suicide prevention. Kline works hard to broadcast to the students that mental illness is treatable if you just talk to someone you trust about it. “It’s just like a pulled hamstring, you can take care of it,” Kline states. In the past, Mrs. Kline has started the Minds Matter club, which eventually merged with Wantagh High School’s chapter of Morgan’s Message. Over the years, Mrs. Kline has started the Wednesday Wellness event during the Covid pandemic and has raised money so that support programs could be more readily available for the students. Now she is organizing the Out Of the Darkness Walk at Jones Beach that will take place on October 22nd with Wantagh’s Morgan’s Message chapter.
Morgan’s Message was founded by Dona Rodgers, who was a devoted mother to her daughter, Morgan Rodgers. Morgan Rodgers played lacrosse at Duke University. During her second season at Duke, Morgan suffered a knee injury. During this devastating time, Morgan suffered in silence as her mental health deteriorated. Morgan died at the age of 22 after losing her battle to mental illness. After Dona Rodgers lost her daughter to suicide in 2019, she started the Morgan’s Message Foundation in order to help other athletes battle their mental illness. As the Morgans Message website states, their vision is to “empower those who suffer in silence & support those who feel alone.”
The foundation quickly spread to different schools all over the country and many people were eager to help spread Dona Rodgers’ message. Students at Wantagh High School took part in this foundation with the help of Mrs. Gompers, a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher and Mrs. Kline. The students work hard to come up with elaborate ideas to raise money for Morgan’s Message and bring awareness to the school. When asked about the primary goals that Morgan’s Message would be focusing on this year Mrs. Gompers said, “The goal this year is to raise more awareness about struggles adolescents and athletes face everyday.” Wantagh High School’s chapter of Morgan’s Message not only focuses on athlete’s mental health, but focuses on everyone’s mental health. In the past, the Morgan’s Message club has set up posters, held meetings, and sold Morgan’s Message apparel to the students. This year, they plan to do even more to bring more awareness to Morgan’s story and the countless athletes suffering from mental illness. During September, the Morgan’s Message club will be collaborating with the Student G.O to create a showcase to spread awareness for mental health. This showcase will be divided into three sections and will help students understand the meaning of mental illness and how to help people that are suffering with poor mental health. The club is also looking into spirit weeks, baskets and raffles, more merchandise, and dedication games. In addition to all of these ideas, the Morgan’s Message Club is taking part in the Out of the Darkness Walk this October.
The Morgan’s Message Club at Wantagh High School now has over 80 students willing to dedicate time to help this cause. They have expanded to social media by creating an instagram account to help further promote and raise awareness for mental illness. If you walk around the school, you can find students wearing Morgan’s Message t-shirts and sweatshirts. If any student wants to join the club, there are QR codes all around the school. The Morgan’s Message Club has successfully spread the word about mental health awareness and constantly helps students navigate through their own emotions. They have made an affirmation wall in the lobby where you can take a positive post-it and also leave one for someone else. The Morgan’s Message Club has and continues to raise awareness for mental health while also bringing the students and faculty together.