Johnathan Tsai (’19) explains the premise of the new Mental Illness Awareness Club. Photo by Jake Winkleby Tejas Chadha, Staff Writer
This year, Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) has introduced a variety of new clubs; one club in particular is looking to make a difference for a previously underrepresented portion of our campus: The Mental Illness Awareness and Support club (MIAS). MIAS works to educate students about mental illnesses and help those with mental disabilities.
“Basically what we do is provide support for students with problems with their mental health and we teach lessons every week about mental health to help spread awareness around campus,”said club president Jonathan Tsai (’19).
Given that this is the first year this club is active at FVHS and in the entire district, it is doing well with membership, reaching a strong 40 members who are all actively engaged in the club. They hope that their amount of members increases next year so they can have a wider outreach in the community and spread their message even further.
The club will have different fundraisers throughout the year, opportunities for students to volunteer to spend some time with students with special needs and learn more about the issues that they deal with. Their goal is to help make everyone feel more included in the student body by spending time with students who have mental disabilities and educating students.
“Our goals are to help break the stigma of mental illness around the campus and get more students more engaged and active in that area,” said Tsai.
