Video Production/Editing Credit to Emma Dischner

Article/Description Credit to Harleigh Wiesenbach, Features Editor

Stand Together “pops” the stigma on mental health through popcorn

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  Stand Together held a successful toolkit activity on February 4 handing out free popcorn in exchange for answering a myth/fact question and signing a pledge to end the stigma on mental health and substance abuse disorders. The goal was to start the conversation on these two subjects and to promote Stand Together as a club.

  “In terms of our first toolkit, I was very happy with the turnout and the support that I saw from the student body,” says President Joshua Heidenreich.

  To maintain the conversation, Stand Together plans to better improve and rehash the popcorn stand as well as create a new toolkit later in the year.

  “I think the toolkit was very successful in starting a conversation. A lot of people were asking about Stand Together and mental health,” Heidenreich comments.

  On top of this, about 500 to 600 pledges were signed to end the stigma on mental health, which is a huge success. The plan is to visually represent these pledges somewhere in the school.

  As for new changes and improvements for the next popcorn stand, Stand Together plans to change the way they pop the popcorn, instead using the two popcorn machines the athletic center has over the one they used. They are also going to discuss changing how to change the myths and facts to make it easier to follow and more presentable for both students involved as well as overall making everything more clear.

  “Although Stand Together is closed off to new members this year, I still think that it piqued a lot of people’s interests as a club dedicated to encouraging education for mental health. The fact that Montour is recognizing that this is very relevant for high school students is especially important,” states Heidenreich. If anyone would like to join Stand Together, they would have to a complete a training with the rest of the club starting next school year.