Students fly ‘Kites for Hope’

On a warm Friday afternoon, students at Sandpoint High School make their way to the south lawn to fly kites with their friends.

The students string lines through the plastic kites, some adorned with the faces of Elsa from Disney’s “Frozen,” or superheroes, or Mattel’s Barbie. Then they run further into the field with the kites trailing behind, every so often turning back to watch it as they run.

The event, dubbed “Kites for Hope” was first brought to the students by Tavi Brandenburg, one of the counselors at SHS. May is mental health awareness month, and with it area schools, including SHS and some elementaries, have been working to facilitate more mental health programming.

Although the connection between kites and mental health might not be immediately obvious, Baxter Pollard, Associated Student Body president, said what drew her into the idea was the way it created an activity for students to take care of their own mental well-being.

“Sometimes mental health doesn't have to be talking about it,” she said. “It can just be doing something healthy for you and your mind and something easy and fun. And I feel like that's what this is.”

Over the past year, educators have spoken time and again at school board meetings and about the mental health impacts of the pandemic on students. Education was disrupted, as were students' social lives.

For many students, the isolation left them with more time to think about their problems and having to deal with those problems alone.

“People are really having to reflect on themselves. And I think that that can bring up a lot of feelings and emotions that usually you would never confront, because usually you're doing your day to day things,” she said. “So I feel like being able to go out and see people in the fresh air and just doing something is really important.”

Her connection to other students, Pollard said, helped make the past year better, despite the meeting limitations for much of the year. Among those students she befriended was freshman class Secretary/Treasurer Livia Owens.

“I would have never met her this year if it wasn't for Student Council,” Pollard said. “I just love being around her. So I think that just that idea of friendship, and meeting people you would have never met, and being there for them and having a fun relationship is really important.”

Other schools in the district, including Farmin-Stidwell Elementary, also participated.

Ellen Wassif, a counselor at Farmin, said the school had roughly 100 students in fourth and sixth grade participating.

The event was sponsored by the Idaho Resilience Project and Optum Idaho, which distributed a total of 7,000 kites to communities in Idaho for the project.

But “Kites for Hope” is only one aspect of the school’s efforts to promote mental health, Brandenburg said.

Currently, judges are working through submissions for the Bulldog Resilience project, where students submitted written, visual, performing and graphic art demonstrating adaptability, resilience, kindness, growth and grit.

Six students will be selected for $500 Rotary scholarships, with prizes for runners-up and a raffle for participants.

Beyond that project, the students and teachers have also been participating in ongoing efforts to have more conversations and curriculum centered on mental health care.

“I think that mostly we’re looking at this as a fun opportunity [to start that conversation],” she said. “Our health teacher is looking through the mental health curriculum. Our student mentors did some more virtual campaigns and reminders of how to keep each other healthy.”