By Jerry Lai - a high school student from APAPA Youth Group

On April 4, 2015, APAPA Youth Group hosted a special event about the mental issues and hidden aspects of high schoolers.

Chia-Chia Chien, founder of the Culture to Culture foundation, which is a nonprofit, community-based organization dedicated to promoting mental health and emotional wellness within the San Francisco Bay Area's growing Asian-American community, was present at the event, talking to an audience of concerned parents with high schoolers that may be facing the mental issues Mrs. Chien was talking about.



She went over the different mental issues, such as depression, anxiety, etc., and looked at what our students today (including me) are going through. Mrs. Chien drew my real examples found in the essays submitted to her published prompts, asking high schoolers what they thought to be the biggest mental issue.

The touching stories, detailing the many lives suffering from depression and stress of the high school life, all pointed to examples of depression and other mental issues are actually real. She shared the actual student essays, student interviews about these issues, and her analysis about these issues.

Finally, she identified the problems with these mental issues, often caused by stress and peer pressure, and ways to solve each problem. I, a high schooler myself, appreciated Mrs. Chien’s support in this issue. I have personally seen classmates and friends suffer from this, and her analysis was very clarifying as well as supportive for all students and victims of mental issues.