At a recent Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) competition, a group of South Forsyth seniors earned first place internationally for their campaign to promote emotional, psychological, and social well-being.
The minds behind the award-winning “Mind and Unwind” campaign include Saanvi Naredla, Shrina Jyoti, Om Chigurupati, Ronak Mohanty, Shruthi Medicherla, and Eesha Kandula.
HOSA is a student-led organization that guides its members in learning about different branches of medicine, while testing in events related to their areas of expertise. Students also have the chance to participate in skill-based performances, leadership showcases, and recognition events.
South is home to three HOSA advisors: Patricia Hungerbuhler, Kaylee Brower, and Jennifer Clendenen. All three share a love for biology and teaching kids.
Brower explained how HOSA’s events and competition begin in October, culminating in the State Leadership Conference (SLC) in March.
“Students prepare and study for State Qualification Testing for weeks or months at a time,” Brower said.
This work is done in addition to students’ academic coursework.
In their junior year, Saanvi, Shrina, Om, Ronak, Shruthi, and Eesha chose to compete in the “Mental Health Promotion” event for reasons that hit close to home.
Ronak Mohanty, a member of the Mind and Unwind team, explains that his group chose this event because they’ve all experienced the impact stress can have on one’s psychological well-being.
“Junior year is known to be one of the hardest times with all the AP classes, standardized testing, and getting ready for college applications – it’s a lot of work,” said Ronak. “We realized that we were feeling bogged down and stressed with all the things we had to accomplish.”
If unaddressed, chronic stress can become a full-blown mental health problem.
According to the World Health Organization, currently “8% of children and 15% of adolescents experience a mental disorder, but the majority of them do not seek help or receive care.” Wanting to spread awareness about this, the Mind and Unwind team organized a variety of events and platforms to draw attention to the importance of mental health through a primarily digital awareness campaign.
“We mostly campaigned on social media,” said Eesha. “Our followers were able view our content and stay updated, so it definitely played a huge part in gaining more outreach.”
The team posted informative posts and videos with tips for a healthy mindset, daily wellness schedules, and announcements for future events on their Instagram. These events ranged from pickleball, painting, and an ice cream social, to bake sales and even hiking retreats.
“We were able to use these videos and hashtags to really connect with our audience. With reposting and our friends seeing it, and then those friends sending our content to everyone else, we were able to reach our target audience,” Saanvi said.
In one of their Instagram posts, the campaign provided a sleep log for followers to improve their schedules.
“Sleep is so essential for our minds to function, but on average, students get only six hours per night. A sleep log is an easy way to track your sleep, see improvement, and become more mindful all in a short period of time,” the caption read.
The campaign didn’t stop at Instagram posts. The group created their own website for all things “Mind and Unwind”, including pages for mental health risks and protective factors, an overview of their Rush Week, and a log for every event they’ve held.
In a summary of their hiking retreat Meditation Miles, “Mind and Unwind” detailed the science behind hiking’s impact on a person’s mood.
“Hiking not only promotes cardiovascular health and physical endurance, but it also reduces stress hormones, boosts mood through endorphin release, and encourages mental clarity.”
In their podcast with TecBridge, the group reflected on the effort they’ve put in and how far they had come in their chosen event.
“Fortunately, with our hard work and all the support from our listeners, we were able to achieve first place in our event, Mental Health Promotion, at SLC. We’ll get to represent our chapter in Nashville, Tennessee for the International Leadership Conference (ILC),” Shruthi said.
After their win at state, the “Mind and Unwind” team proceeded to showcase their passion for mental health. Through more posts and fundraisers, they progressed from state to nationals, hosted in Nashville.
One by one, other Mental Health Promotion teams were called up to the world stage – Alliance Academy of Innovation, William Fremd High School, and in first place? South Forsyth.
“When we got called first, the feeling was indescribable. It’s really heartwarming to see something you put so much effort and work into paying off. We’ve put in hours of hard work, long nights, and early mornings,” Ronak said.
Even after the team’s success, “Mind and Unwind” detailed their next steps for the campaign. They have many ideas for spreading the project’s impact even further, including “teaching individuals how to use a sleep log…turning [their] club into a non-profit…and giving resources for individuals to learn more about dialectical behavior therapy.”
Visit @mind.and.unwind on Instagram and TikTok to learn more about their award-winning campaign!
