This present week, Hope Week, consisted of fun dress up days brought up by the Hope Squad members. Mrs. Nelson (Hope Squad Advisor) says that a main priority in Hope Squad is them trying to “get the word out there.” With Hope Week they want peers, and citizens of the town to really understand what Hope Squad is all about. Mrs. Nelson states that she really wants Hope Squad to keep going strong here at AHS, but to also eventually move it down to the middle school. “Hopefully this next year we get it going, and then once it’s going strong, then down into Grandview, because actually you can have it as low as third grade.” To really educate Alliance middle school students on Hope Squad, the group went, and was able to give the middle schoolers an assembly on the matter. 

Hope Squad is really trying to spread the message that there is hope. If you are truly struggling, then it is perfectly fine to get help. “Too often people think that it’s a bad thing to especially have struggles with their mental illness”, says Mrs. Nelson, “I’m not a doctor, but the brain is an organ and so if it was any other part of our body we’d go to the doctor to have it fixed, you know if we break an arm, we have to go to the doctor. The brain should be the same way, so when we are struggling mentally we should go to the doctor and it shouldn’t be a big deal just like a broken arm isn’t a big deal.” Please, remember these words, and if you are struggling, don’t be afraid to talk to someone, anyone. Don’t be afraid to “stung the stigma.”