Awareness Week at Massapequa High School

Massapequa High School conducted Awareness Week in which presenters did workshops on controversial topics such as gender identity, mental health, eating habits, vaping, suicide, and addiction.

Presenters spent their week relaying their messages to the students of MHS. From Massapequa, Lisa Davi, English teacher, presented “Mindfulness” and Kevin McSwiggan, Social Studies teacher, presented “Full Body and Life Transformation”. 

Students taking Mrs. Davi’s Mindfulness class spoke to their peers about how practicing mindfulness has impacted their lives.

Outside of MHS, the many presenters included professors, the YES Community Counseling Center, social workers, and mental health counselors. 

“Mindfulness made my dedication to school stronger,” said junior, Jillian Sampson. 

“The managing stress levels presentation helped change my mindset towards struggles in life.,” said Gia Ortmuller.

Although these presentations were directed to advise and inform children on a variety of mental health topics, parents complained that any guardians should have been aware of these workshops before being administered. 

Angry parents expressed their concerns via Facebook regarding their thoughts on surrounding their children listening to these workshops at school.

The biggest concern among the parents was the fact that there was no option of parental consent regarding the hosting of these contentious workshops. 

Additionally, many parents weren’t happy with the information they were receiving regarding gender identity. Some felt that they themselves wanted to teach their children about a person’s identification instead of their children hearing it from the school. 

Although some parents didn’t agree with the teaching of disputed topics such as gender identity, students at MHS positively benefited from the presentations given to them in school. Students working around busy schedules creates stress, increasing the time for mindfulness. Awareness Week helped students learn more topics outside of what’s typically taught in school.

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