Pettis - COE Mental Health (1)

We returned home, took a quick power nap and then it was off to Walmart for a grocery trip. Our companion team from the Student Association of School Psychology joined us for a wonderful family dinner. Our amazing MABers Tim and Emily celebrated birthdays this weekend and we were lucky to spend it with them.

We celebrated with delicious ice cream cake. They say early to bed, early to rise, but visa versa in our case. In the morning we will be working with Sedalia Housing Authority on some fun projects for the local kids. We go to bed excited for tomorrow's activities!It was an early morning. We were up and on the road by 5:45am. While on the road to our service site we discussed the plans for the day and overviewed the activities we had for the Sedalia Middle School students. Our mission? Mental health education.

We arrived at the school with no time to spare. Everyone rushed to their assigned classrooms to greet their students. We introduced our mission for the day, to create a school-wide campaign to advocate kindness. The kids in each class worked as a team to create a poster for their campaign. On this poster was their slogan, logo, and ways to implement their campaign on a daily basis. The students learned from us, but we learned from them as well. Each student shared their own experiences with bullying, and we brainstormed some ways to stand up and make changes in the school that would last long after we leave.

At the end of the day we were exhausted, but the experience we each received outweighed the work we put in. As future educators, we all valued the experiences gained in our classes today. We plan to take them back with us and implement them in our future classrooms.