Personal Statement: Homemade Stress

Near the end of my junior year, my peers and I were assigned a community action project that focuses on minimizing an issue that society faces. After given the instructions, I immediately thought of my own issues of stress and sought to help others not feel alone as I do. I decided to hold a support group during lunch and after school to discuss the issues students faced, and possible ways to cope with their problems. Every student was welcomed to participate, but only five people showed up. From there, I began to hand out homemade stress balls with the intentions to encourage students to attend and possibly entertain them in their time of despair.
Five people quickly grew to twenty and hundreds of students were demanding these handmade stress

balls. The positive feedback that I have received from my project reflects the accomplishment of my goal to decrease the stress students, like myself, were experiencing. From this experience, I learned that many concealed their true emotions with the idea that they are alone or resorted to self harm to heal their mental wounds. By providing students a sanctuary to freely express their emotions and possible solutions to their issues, I, along with the help of those who participated, decimated the use of self harm as a coping mechanism for several individuals and established a sense of community among students who did not even know each other.
This project became more of a lifelong goal to help others eliminate factors that would make them want to give up in life completely. Having the opportunity to help students tackle their issues in a more responsible manner was more rewarding than the grade I got on the project. With flour and a few balloons, I was able to help over 300 students, including myself, decrease the stress that we face from school and our social lives which will hopefully help prepare us for what we may encounter in the future.