Congratulations to Edgewood Middle School students in teacher Elaine Juarez’s 8th grade English class, whose project on untreated adolescent depression won the regional Project Citizen competition May 11 at the College of Lake County University Center in Grayslake, earning them an opportunity to compete at the state level.
Project Citizen is a national civic education program for 5th-8th grade students coordinated in Illinois by the Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago, and promotes competent and responsible participation in state and local government. Participating students identify and research an issue in the local community and create a public policy proposal around it.
The students in Mrs. Juarez' 8th grade English class focused on adolescent mental health, and specifically on decreasing untreated depression among teens. Along with conducting extensive research on this issue, participating students interviewed experts in the field and generated an action plan to help address untreated teen depression throughout North Shore School District 112. Their presentation entitled "A New Direction From Dark Depression: Reducing Untreated Teen Depression" included a three-tiered plan to help reduce untreated teen depression:
1.The addition in health class of free curricular materials from Erika's Lighthouse, a non-profit dedicated to "bringing depression out of the dark", founded after the suicide of an 8th grade student in the New Trier community 8 years ago.
2. Staff development on this issue through the use of an online suicide prevention tutorial
3.A volunteer parent/child panel at the start of each school year to communicate important information regarding teen mental health to students, parents and staff.
Eighth grade English students at both Edgewood and Elm Place schools participated in the Project Citizen competition this year. Good luck to Mrs. Juarez’s students at the state competition. They are: Maddie Xilas, Sam Brief, David Zucker, Grace Quirk, Sean Steo, Noah Friedenberg, Jacob Baim, Jordan Portugal, Christian Knobloch, Jason Block, Hallvard Lundevall, Julia Fishman, Abby Hwong, Elena Pilar, Harry Gottesman.
