Junior achievements

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This article was published 17/06/2016 (3112 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s the burning issue in Canadian schools — stressed-out students struggling with anxiety and depression.

Earlier this month, in Woodstock, Ont., hundreds of students made national headlines when they walked out of class to demand more help amid a teen-suicide crisis that has seen five young people take their own lives in the last four months.

Closer to home, the Class of 2017, whose progress the Free Press is tracking from snack time at Windsor School to graduation gowns at Glenlawn Collegiate Institute, has not been immune to this burgeoning crisis.

When the Free Press dropped in to see how this special group of kids had fared in Grade 11, their third year at Glenlawn, 16-year-old Naomi, traditionally one of the softest-spoken members of the class, courageously shared her personal battle.

“I feel I’ve struggled with my mental health,” she confides near the end of a long chat. “But I feel I’ve gotten through it. Last year was really bad. It got to a point where I couldn’t handle being in classes. The beginning of the year was pretty bad, but now I’m in an OK place and happy, and not a lot of people can say that.”

She says her first two years in high school were an incredible challenge to her emotional well-being.

“I will always struggle with it, but I have friends and people who really care about me,” she said, adding it is critical for teenagers to open up about their battles with anxiety and depression.

“It is good to talk about it,” she insists. “If people keep this in, it will only get worse for themselves. I never wanted to burden anyone, but it’s good to talk about it. You have to, or it’s just going to build up.

“I got through it with my friends and exercise. Exercise lets everything out. Writing helps, too. I wrote about my personal life. Getting it out in positive ways helps so much. It’s just letting people know you’re going through this. Don’t suffer in silence.”

To ward off despair, she’s thrown herself into fitness. “I’m a gym junkie. My mom and I have gone on a few runs this year. I’m looking to get into swimming again, and my mom just signed up me and my brother for rowing. I’ve been filling my days with school and exercise.”

The thing that brings her the most joy is her younger brother, Jordan, 14, who just finished Grade 9, his first year wandering the halls of Glenlawn with a protective big sister. Two years ago, Jordan had his right foot amputated in the wake of a string of surgeries to correct a longtime disability.

“He has improved so much,” Naomi beams. “The way he is now just makes me really happy. I love seeing him. Now he can finally run. He’s doing sports like sledge hockey. I was petrified going into Grade 9, and Jordan was, like, ‘It’s going to be really fun.’ That kid isn’t scared of anything.”

She says she no longer has time for the school band or boyfriends, but praised the school for being proactive in helping her find a way out of the darkness of depression.

“This school is all about killing the stigma of mental illness,” Naomi says with obvious pride. “Mrs. Stephenson (Christine Stephenson, Glenlawn’s student service teacher for Grade 11) really helped me get through school. She did everything in her power to help me pass. My parents did a lot for me, too.”

On a warm afternoon in her second-floor office, Stephenson becomes misty-eyed when told of Naomi’s emotional tribute.

She stresses Naomi is far from being the only high school student struggling with mental-health issues.

“In student services, we’re half academic support and half counselling,” Stephenson says. “But our day leans heavily toward counselling. The two most common struggles are depression and anxiety for teenagers.

“It’s an issue at every grade level. Kids often feel when they’re suffering from anxiety or depression they’re the only one. In fact, one in five students will suffer from mental-health issues at some point in their lives.”

Stephenson says the school is dedicated to ensuring students realize there is no shame in getting help, and teachers are trained to spot the signs of anxiety and depression in the classroom. If a school counsellor can’t help, they’ll approach social workers and psychologist for expert advice.

You might say it’s been just another year for the Class of 2017, which means another roller-coaster ride of emotions, of part-time jobs, of drivers’ licences, of dabbling in dating and all the stress-filled joys of trading elbows in the halls of one of Manitoba’s largest high schools.

But this year has been unique in a very special way — it’s the first time the Class of 2017 has been forced to seriously confront their future and decide where they want tao end up and what path they must follow to get there.

“They have to make some decisions,” Stephenson says. “There are three math paths they can follow, for example. They have to decide if they’re going to take sciences or go to the arts and tech centre and learn a trade for part of the year. It’s a defining year.

“They’re ambling along in grades 9 and 10, then in Grade 11 they’re thinking about what they’re going to do after Grade 12.”

Needing 30 credits over their four years to graduate, the average Glenlawn student takes seven courses in grades 11 and 12, four of which — English, history, math and physical education — are mandatory core subjects.

This year, for the first time, they were able to choose from a wide range of specialized courses within the traditional core subjects, and that included phys-ed.

“You can specialize a little bit more” in phys-ed, notes Jason Dubeau, vice-principal for Grade 11 students at Glenlawn, a sprawling 1,240-student collegiate at the corner of St. Mary’s Road and Fermor Avenue.

“There’s female fitness, male fitness, personal fitness, basketball and soccer academies. It’s geared toward the individual in order to create that lifelong healthy person,” Dubeau says.

“In Grade 11, the path kind of moves from being paved in sand to being paved in clay. It’s becoming more solid, but nothing is set in stone.”

Dionne Deer, in her second year as principal at Glenlawn, says the school makes use of high-tech tools to help kids in grades 11 and 12 figure out which career path to follow.

“We have an online program that helps kids to pick their careers,” Deer tells a visitor. “It’s called myBlueprint. A student can say, ‘I want to be a forest ranger,’ and the program will tell them what the requirements are.”

Sitting down with the class, it’s hard to remember the pigtails and toothless grins they sported when Free Press readers first met them 12 years ago in Ms. Gietz’s kindergarten classroom at Windsor School.

At the end of Grade 11, the penultimate year of high school, they’re bigger and stronger, but more importantly, they exude a quiet confidence, offering the first real glimpse of the adults they’re in the process of becoming.

“They’re becoming more mature about their choices on social media, getting into real relationships as opposed to just social-media relationships,” Deer says. “In Grade 11, they become more socially responsible in general.

“The kids with the biggest social issues, difficulties with peers and social media, it’s hardest in the Grade 10 year. In Grade 11, they understand the consequences of their actions a little bit more.”

Naomi wasn’t the only former Windsor School student forced to rub elbows with a younger sibling this year — five members of the class had brothers or sisters join them at Glenlawn.

Hockey-loving Griffin, who turns 17 in August, was unfazed at having his 14-year-old sister, Emily, following in his footsteps. “It’s nothing,” Griffin says, laughing. “I see her in school, and I’m with four buddies and she’s with 15 friends. She played on the girls’ hockey team. I like it, except when she asks me for money.”

For Griffin, life is all about family and hockey. A few years ago, a photo of Griffin gently carrying his disabled younger brother, Tyler, over his shoulder touched the hearts of Free Press readers.

“That’s still how I carry him,” Griffin says of his 11-year-old brother, who just finished Grade 5 at nearby Windsor School. “This year’s been a mixed year. He got sick for a bit with pneumonia and spent close to a month in hospital. He’s bounced back pretty well. We had to keep him out of school for a little bit. But he’s the toughest kid I know.”

A leader at both Windsor and Glenlawn, he’s still collecting pop-can tabs to raise cash to help buy Tyler, who lives with cerebral palsy, a motorized wheelchair. “We had about 500 pounds in total (during Spirit Week) and put it into Tyler’s fund for the wheelchair,” the flame-haired teen recalls.

This was the first year Glenlawn has iced high school hockey teams, but Griffin was unable to suit up because of his commitment to his club team, the Winnipeg Wild provincial Triple A squad.

He hits the gym four times a week and dreams of playing hockey for years to come, but this year took chemistry and biology to help pave the way toward another career choice.

“In Grade 11, it’s time to think about what you want to be and choose your courses around what you want to be,” he says. “I want to be more of a physiotherapist/athletic trainer kind of thing. That’s what I’d like to be.”

Being confident in his own opinions has never been a problem for Noah, 16, the unofficial class clown, whose outgoing personality has made a lot of fans among staff and students.

“It was so much fun,” Noah declares of Grade 11. “My life changed so much in the last couple of months. I got my (driver’s) licence and started working two different jobs. I’m a swimming instructor and lifeguard with the City of Winnipeg.

“It’s a lot of fun. I also teach at the YMCA beside the school. I teach swimming and do lifeguarding at the pool. I have a lot more money than I used to, so that’s good, but it doesn’t make me super-popular.”

In Grade 9, Noah found his niche by portraying Arthur the Lion, Glenlawn’s official mascot. These days, the sweltering fur costume doesn’t get much of a workout.

“I’ve been to one basketball game (as Arthur) this year,” he recalls. “The costume is still not in great shape. I don’t want to talk ill of it, but it’s hard to keep it functioning.”

A devoted trombone and tuba player, Noah was a member of the senior concert band, the intermediate jazz band and the wind ensemble. “I love doing powerful parts at the back of the band, having the volume being heard,” he gushes.

He also helped out with the school musical, Grease. “I was a stagehand, so I made sets,” he says. “It was a really cool experience. I’ve always been interested in the maintenance of the shows. Grade 11 has definitely been the best year so far. I hope Grade 12 is much the same.”

Anyone familiar with the class’s long and winding journey through the education system knows Aby, 16, is a veteran world traveller. In 2011, she spurned a trip to Disneyland to visit the slums of Nairobi, where she’d launched an initiative to raise cash to buy filters to provide access to clean water.

The conscience of the Class of 2017, Aby’s eyes sparkle as she describes the highlight of Grade 11 — a two-month trip to Meitoku Gijuku, an elite school near Kochi on the Japanese island of Shikoku, as part of an international students program.

“I missed a lot of my Grade 11 year here because of it, but it was 100 per cent worth it,” she says, beaming. “It was really different from here, obviously. We went to school until about 2 p.m. and learned about the language and the culture.

“Then we did clubs in the afternoon from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. I was in an elite club called Wadaiko; it’s Japanese performance drumming. We were on TV three times. Your hands would bleed. We had blisters and everything.”

It was a disciplined existence. “The daily routine is very strict. You wake up at 6:30 a.m. and do a morning ceremony at breakfast at 7 a.m. The meal is fish and other interesting things.

“Then you hike back up to the dorm 75 metres above sea level and have a little bit of time to get ready and put on your uniform. Then you walk down to the buses and get bused to school. Japanese people are very traditional. I think they really value their history and want to teach it to everyone. We slept on traditional tatami mats, not beds.”

Did the experience — which included attending a sumo wrestling tournament — change her? “I think so,” she says. “It showed me new aspects of life and made me more grateful for the things we have at home — normal Canadian food, and beds, actual beds. Maybe privacy, because we didn’t really have any in Japan.”

While most of the class is pondering post-secondary plans, Thomas, 16, is following a different route, taking part in the Successful Futures work-experience program, designed for kids not champing at the bit for a college education.

“I’m more into trades work,” Thomas says, who has bulked up and exudes self-confidence. “I’ve always been a very hands-on sort of person, so I decided to look into trades. My dad thought it would be a good career path, because he’s an electrician.

“Anything really hands-on is something I love to do — woods, metals. Auto mechanics is by far my favourite. I consider myself very smart with cars. I love opening a car’s hood and tinkering with it.

“The coolest work block I was at was a diesel mechanics, truck and trailer shop. I’d work on those heavy diesel trucks, like big semis, 18-wheelers. I got a lot of knowledge out of that.”

Thomas knows he’s taking a different route than the rest of the class, and he’s proud of it. “A lot of the kids, they don’t know a lot about real life stuff, but my resumé is a lot bigger,” he says with a smile. “The other kids come to me for advice on how to get a job or do a resumé.”

Arguably the highlight of the year for Quinn, who turns 17 in July, happened outside of school — his mom, Colleen Mayer, was elected Tory MLA for St. Vital in April’s provincial election.

“It’s new,” Quinn says of his mother’s victory at the polls. “All our hard work paid off. If you work hard at something, you can achieve it, as long as you have friends and family that support you.”

School administrators boast Quinn was a valuable player on the campaign trail, but he shrugs that off, saying he just did “whatever she needed help with.”

Of watching his mom battle her rivals at a debate held at Glenlawn, he casually says: “It was neat. I’d never seen her speak in public before. It went OK. Pretty normal.”

Is politics a potential career choice? “No!” he declares. “It’s just not my cup of tea. I’m looking at being a chiropractor now. Honestly, it just seemed interesting, and I want to work with my hands.”

Always a man of few words, it’s obvious Quinn — whose younger brother, Ethan, joined him at Glenlawn this year — has become more comfortable sharing his opinions.

He even tried his hand at improv class. While he professes nothing but love for his school, he’s definitely cool on social media, and his views on the topic would benefit any would-be politician or local celebrity.

“I find it (social media) a big waste of time,” he declares. “I had social media, but I mostly stopped. It’s just so easy to get caught saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. One thing you say can mess you up in the future. It’s not something I want, let alone need, in my life. It can come back and bite you in the butt.”

Formerly a basketball player, Hailey, 16, backed away from the hardwood this year to focus on music. “I play (alto sax) in the senior jazz band and the concert band and the wind ensemble,” she says. “Music has been what this year was all about, and it’s good.

“It’s where I’ve made a lot of my friends. It’s a great crowd. I don’t think I’ll continue with it out of high school, but we’ll see.”

She had no problem dealing with the arrival at Glenlawn of her younger brother, Ben. “It was fun,” she shrugs, noting older brother Cody is graduating this month. “I think he was more embarrassed to be seen with me than I was to be seen with him. He’s a funny kid. It’s good to have him here.”

Like most of the class, she had to narrow her academic focus this year. “Last year, it was just general science, and this year you get to choose where you want to go, so I took physics and chemistry,” she says. “I know next year, things are going to ramp up again. I’ve heard from a lot of people Grade 12 is a tough year.”

For Sydney, 16, it’s all about volleyball and more volleyball. She made the varsity girls’ squad in Grade 10 and was a key player this year.

The first thing you notice when she sits down is her right arm is in a sling. “I tore some muscles at volleyball practice,” she chirps. “It’ll be fine. I won’t be out for long. Now I’m in club volleyball playing for the Under 16 Bisons Club at the U of M.”

The volleyball highlight this year was making it to the final four and playing in front of hundreds of fans at the University of Manitoba. “It keeps me focused, and I have goals I work toward,” Sydney says.

The course load in Grade 11 was heavier, “but you get to focus on areas you like. I’m in chemistry, biology and arts. I don’t want to head toward anything in sciences. I just want to keep my options open. In the future, I’d like to do something in business. I don’t know, like, being an entrepreneur or a real estate agent. Being your own boss.”

Never the chatty one, Garrett, 16, is much more at ease answering questions from a nosy journalist, especially when the topics are cars and computers.

“I’ve got my intermediate licence,” is the first thing Garrett shares. “I’ve just had it for a few days. It has tons of benefits. In 15 months, I’ll have my full licence. Right now, I can only have one person in the car after midnight.”

Fuelled by his passion for all things automotive, he took power mechanics this year. “I’m really interested in cars,” he says. “My life is gaming, computers and watching car videos. I watch a lot of how-to-do car videos. Repair them and make them faster. How to tune them.”

“I’m still very much into computers, too. I’m huge on building them. I built my own computer. It’s a pretty good gaming machine, a gaming-enthusiast system.”

But his future likely won’t involve computers or mechanics. “I’m kind of interested in sales, car sales and stuff. I think that would be cool.”

She was too busy with schoolwork to attend the Rocky Mountain Music Festival trip this year — “I’ve been doing really good in school this year. My marks are really good” — but Mackenzie, 16, was adevoted member of the choir.

“I love choir so much!” Mackenzie gushes. “Our choir directors are just awesome people. Singing is fun. I’m an alto; that’s the lower range. It gets all my singing out. I sing at home, and it drives my mom crazy. She tells me to stop, but I don’t really listen.”

New things in her world included a part-time job at Miller’s Meats — “I take numbers and get people steaks or chicken or sandwich meat. I’m not a vegetarian” — and taking a specialized math course online.

“It’s OK,” she says of online learning. “I can do it at home if I’m motivated. I’m not a fan of it. I like having a teacher standing in front of the class and showing me how to do it. I like having the teacher as a resource I can ask.”

And then there’s the fact she’s sporting her first pair of glasses, a stylish pair with tortoiseshell frames. “I was having trouble seeing the board,” she explains. “They always put me in the back.

“It got rid of a lot of my headaches. I had so many strain headaches from trying to see the board. Now I don’t have to squint. My friends don’t make fun of me. Glasses make me feel smarter.”

One of the older kids in the class at 17, Sarah gets a case of the giggles when she looks at photos and a brief bio of herself in the 2011 instalment of the Class of 2017 series.

“Everything in there is pretty much the same,” she confesses, chuckling. “I still don’t like vegetables. I still don’t use social media. I still want to work with animals, maybe wildlife rehabilitation or veterinary technician.”

One thing that did change was being joined at Glenlawn by younger sister Amy. “I like it,” Sarah says. “We get along. We had the same spare last semester, and we hung out a lot. I thought it would be a little weird, but we’re goofy together.”

This soft-spoken teen has found her comfort zone in the school’s art room. “I love art,” she gushes. “I love painting. I’ve done a lot of paintings. We tried sculpting with clay, but it’s not my thing. We did etching on Plexiglas.

“I just like creating things. I’ve always liked it. It’ll just be a hobby; it’s not really a life goal. I did a painting of a fox, and then you put brown paint on it to make it look old. It’s called antiquing. And I did a cat that has the colours of the rainbow on its fur. People always compliment it.”

If Jesse, 16, is dedicated to anything, it has to be self-improvement. In a way, he’s the Class of 2017’s Renaissance man, with passions for hockey, poetry and helping animals.

This year, he and his cousin Griffin not only played on the same team, the Winnipeg Wild, but on the same line, with Jesse filling the net during the playoffs.

The thickly muscled hockey fanatic confides he’d lost his confidence on the ice and was determined to rebound this season. “This year I’ve been building my confidence,” he says. “I don’t want to be the guy who just passes the puck. I’d like to be the one that scores.”

His focus in school has been on sciences, including chemistry, biology and physics. “I’d like to be a veterinarian or something,” Jesse says. “It would be hard, but if you’re dedicated, you can find your way into things. I’ve always had that dream as a kid.”

When not skating or studying, he’s working at his new part-time job at a city icon. “I work at the Bridge Drive-In,” Jesse boasts. “Me and my brother both work there now. I make ice cream. I clean. I do a bit of everything. It’s my first-ever job. I was a bit nervous at the start, but it went pretty well.”

And, yes, he’s still listening to motivational tapes. “I like how they tell me to work harder,” he says. “It always gets me pumped up. People laugh. I find it funny, too, but it pushes me and makes me more dedicated.”

Rounding out his life is a passion for, well, rhyming. “I’ve still kept up with my poetry,” he tells a visitor. “In English, the only thing I was good at was the poetry unit. We had to write seven poems.”

As for the bonds of friendship forged in kindergarten back at Windsor, Jesse says they tend to fade a bit every year as new friendships arise. “We still have the memories from back in Windsor, and that will never leave, but you find more people with things in common, and you open up to the world,” he says with a maturity that belies his years.

So the Class of 2017, heading into their final year of high school, is doing just fine, thanks.

But Free Press readers can expect to get a bit misty-eyed next year when we have to say our final goodbyes to a special group of kids we’ll have watched grow up in newsprint for 13 roller-coaster years.

It might be a good idea to keep a big box of tissues handy. I’m just saying.

 

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca