For alumni who attended State College Area High School through the late 1990s, it’s easy to look back through rose-colored glasses.
Relative peace and prosperity enveloped our youth. Seismic upheavals — the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic — were years away.
Plus, cell phones had yet to be everywhere. We were free to roam and commit youthful indiscretions in our hometown without the prying eyes of social media.
But for those facing struggle, asking for help often wasn’t so simple. Here as elsewhere, acknowledging challenges with mental health could bring stigma and shame — a sense of weakness amid the Nittany Valley’s muscular pride.
When I saw a State College therapist for the first time in the early 2000s, I told barely anyone. Even as a talkative undergraduate, I had no interest in letting people into that truth.
Today that toxic quiet around mental health is fading. Thanks in large measure to educators and service organizations, issues of mental health have become a bigger part of mainstream, everyday conversations.
As support and understanding have grown, data suggest fewer people live in silence with their burdens.
Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults received mental health treatment in 2022, up four percentage points just from 2018, according to a KFF analysis. And stigma toward people with depression has fallen, Indiana University researchers found.
These and other improvements don’t happen in a vacuum, and they won’t continue without sustained attention. Locally, the State College Area School District Education Foundation prioritized mental health needs even before the COVID pandemic put a spotlight on them.
A philanthropic arm of the district, the foundation formed its Mental Health Matters Fund in 2019 on the guidance of school administrators. The concept was straightforward: to help cover professional development, sponsor special events and care for students with insurance shortfalls.
Fundraising ballooned when COVID struck the next year, as the fund channeled more than $200,000 to pay for emergency needs.
Its philanthropy continues today with a boost from the State High Class of 2000. Under a collaboration with the foundation, the class has developed the State High Class of 2000 Memorial Fund for Mental Wellness.
This resource will operate as part of the overall Mental Health Matters Fund, with regular disbursements to follow district input on the areas of greatest need. Those could range from faculty and staff training to direct support for students at risk.
Anyone can contribute to the memorial fund, which honors the lives and legacies of the Class of 2000 members who have died over the past 25 years. For such a large group — with well more than 500 members — the class has maintained close bonds and a desire to give back to its community.
Together with the foundation, the class is introducing the memorial fund as part of its 25-year reunion, scheduled for early August. The hope, in part, is to provide a model for honoring legacy and serving a greater good as we mark shared milestones.
For as far as it’s come, the work of mental wellness can’t stop here.
Adam Smeltz is a member of the State High Class of 2000 and an occasional contributor to StateCollege.com.
