MONTAGUE — The NBC Middle School Hope Squad hosted its first-ever Wellness Walk Monday night at the new high school gym, bringing dozens of community members together to build connection and access mental health resources.
In addition to those who came to walk, representatives from HealthWest and the annual Ava Vanderstelt 5K were on hand. Bottles of water and cookies were given to walkers, and conversation cards were available for community members to use to connect.
The Wellness Walk is the result of a brainstorming session NBC students undertook while attending the Michigan Middle School Leadership Initiative at Camp Miniwanca last summer, according to Hope Squad members Aubrey Smith and Harper Seymour.
"We were told to bring a group project together that can pull our community together while making sure everyone was seen and heard and just could feel (together) as a community," Smith said. "We were laying on the ground one afternoon (and we thought,) why don't we do a walk? A lot of people like walking and exploring, Slowly, we all brainstormed and got conversation cards and sponsors. That's how we got here today."
Seymour said the response exceeded what she expected.
"We've had a great turnout," Seymour said. "A lot of people are coming to us with good feedback, a lot of compliments."
"They're all wondering when the next one is," Smith added.
The conversation cards included about 20 different questions for community members to ask one another, all positively-focused. Examples were "What's something that made you feel proud lately?" and "What helps you calm down when you are feeling stressed?"
Fitting into Hope Squad's message of suicide prevention and peer-led mental health awareness, there were several affirming posters placed throughout the track with notable positive quotes.
