Students share messages of inspiration, kindness
<p>Kyle Hertel, a senior, and Nataya Thompson, a junior, show the YANA publication that students were given during second period on Friday. The publication was designed to give the students inspirational words of wisdom through letters from the upperclassmen. (Photo by DESIREE HOOD)</p>
SANDPOINT — High school can be a mix of feelings from insecurities to stress, from happiness to sadness. Sandpoint High School juniors and seniors reached out to the underclassmen with letters of encouragement and advice on how to make it through high school with a smile in YANA, a tabloid created by the students.
YANA, meaning You Are Not Alone, was the brainchild of Nataya Thompson and Ashley Samora, a junior and senior, after a SHS student committed suicide, the third in about a year for the district. During a health occupations course, a teacher asked what the students could do that would be reactive or proactive, and Thompson thought about having the students write letters to the freshman and sophomore classes. After refining the idea, three juniors and three seniors were chosen to write letters for YANA.
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