The golden dome of Pittsfield High School — a grand, ivy-covered edifice built in 1931 — shines above Berkshire County’s urban hub on East Street, just steps from the city’s core. The public school serves over 700 students, making it the largest high school in the Berkshires.
“People, even in our town, think that young people are these big bad guys, and we go into small businesses and we steal so many places like you're not allowed as a young person to go, and we have really nowhere to go for free," said Levi Hall, a sophomore and chair of the high school’s youth advisory board. "So, if you were to go into a small business or a corporation, they would look at you as if you came with that intention. Really, you're just looking for something to do. I know Dunkin implemented a no loitering policy, and I've seen people get kicked out of restaurants all the time”
The body is a product of SPARK, or Supporting Positive Actions for Resilience & Knowledge — a Berkshire Regional Planning Commission public health undertaking aimed at improving youth peer-to-peer mental health support, reducing the use of substances, and bolstering the advocacy of young people in countywide decision making.
“Sure, there's some youth who do do bad things, but that's the same with any age group and demographic," Hall said. "Everyone has a couple bad apples, but you don't want to let that ruin the bunch. And I feel like in our town and even just throughout the United States, people say, oh yeah, kids are terrible in schools nowadays, no one listens, everyone just misbehaves- And that's just not true at all.”
“I hear a lot of mental health things about, we either don't have enough or we don't have enough resources, necessarily, to provide for every student in each individual needs," said McKenna Zamboni, the only senior on the board. "I hear a lot of that. I hear a lot of drinking and alcohol issues and nicotine issues. And weed sometimes.”
Hall says he understands the issue of mental health support.
“I struggled with mental health, and I always feel like there was really nowhere to go," he told WAMC. "I mean, even now, there's like a six month wait list for the Brien Center, which is the main provider of therapy. So really, when I found out that there was a club or group I could join that I could help a younger version of me sort of push through something, I was really drawn to that.”
To circumvent both a lack of resources in the community and the misperceptions of older generations, the youth advisory board offers peer-led approaches to handling the issues students face.
“Our main topic last week was mental health," Zamboni explained." So, we started off by, we took a topic, right? We had a burger, and then you get to find your French fry. And then the two of you would talk about an issue, like mental health, and you would come up with a question and a solution, possibly, for that question. And then you kept changing your word-.Like, if you were burger and French fry, you would find Patrick and SpongeBob. You would find your pair, your duo, to talk about different things. You get to meet more people, and get to be more social and more of like a team, and you come up with solutions and questions for what we're talking about that day.”
It's been a particularly intense time for the students of PHS. Last December, the arrest of Dean of Students Lavante Wiggins on federal charges of allegedly trafficking cocaine in and around Pittsfield led to public outcry and misconduct claims directed at other staffers at the school. Zamboni says the shadow has yet to be fully lifted.
“I think to a point we are still feeling the effects of what happened last holiday season," she said. "But I think we are moving forward. We still, obviously have some hardships, and things are still coming up every day through the news, but I think as a school community, we are starting to move forward from what happened from last year.”
The youth advisory board will have even more support thanks to a $10,000 Community Impact Grant from Fallon Health secured by the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission that will fund a pilot program at PHS for the Active Minds Curriculum. Public Health Planner Noé González Ortiz says 19 students are on board to take the 13-part syllabus that will allow to them to become peer mental health supports for other young people at the school.
“They're able to go to these peer support students and be able to find someone who can listen to them and provide them resources and provide them guidance as to where to go to find help," he said. "This does not in any way, shape, or form substitute the role of the school adjustment counselors or the counselors or school psychologists. It's just another level of support that the schools are going to have for students who might not be in that like crisis type situation, but maybe they're just feeling stressed because they have too much homework, or something is going on. They're having some issues with personal relations or things like that.”
The Active Minds program is getting off the ground this fall, and the BRPC expects to have enough information from the pilot by the spring to file a full report with the Pittsfield Public Schools.
“Our main goal within all this is that, Active Minds is a national organization, and we hope that by the end of this curriculum, we're able to register as a national chapter for Active Minds in Pittsfield public schools,” said González Ortiz.
Zamboni says she has great hopes for where it can take Pittsfield High School.
“The ability to be able to talk to your peer about things that maybe adults don't understand necessarily, or things that we understand on a level that they don't- It's insane," she said. "And being able to, like, actually provide for them and actually able to help them that adults may not necessarily understand, it's great, and I'm really excited for what's going to happen.”
