By Chelsea McNerney-Martinez
DEL NORTE— Local youth recently showcased ideas to improve mental among their peers in the second annual “Through Our Eyes” photo gallery. Sponsored by the Rio Grande Prevention Partners, the gallery was displayed last Thursday, Aug. 16 and featured the photography and artwork of five students from Del Norte High School, members of their respective Prevention Youth Council.
Each display included photos taken and selected by each student. The gallery’s theme was “local youth showing how we can improve mental health among our peers and community.” Many of the students decided to analyze isolation and the dual role of technology in improving lives but overall harming the social lives and mental health of individual people.
DNHS Junior Max Garcia welcomed attendees to the gallery presentation, thanking them for supporting several weeks of the students’ efforts to depict how they perceive suicide and mental health in the San Luis Valley. Garcia elaborated on the RGPP model using the Communities that Care (CTC) program to implement evidence based strategies to reinforce protective factors and reduce risk factors in the community. Garcia stated the CTC program also gave the youth access to the results of completed by youth throughout the state of Colorado, and related several startling statistics; 706 female and 760 male youth felt hopeless in the last year, and mental health issues and depression are on the rise, Garcia explained. There were 10 suicides in the San Luis Valley in 2016 and 150 in Colorado and 1476 people attempted suicide in Colorado in 2017. Garcia also explained many of the people who answered the surveys reported having been bullied and elaborated on the correlation between bullying and depression. Garcia also discussed other behavioral issues, including the high number of disclosed off-school altercations. “We need to be informed and work together to address these serious issues,” Garcia stated, adding “It’s important to remember all youth have a voice too,” before leaving the floor to the artists to explain how their work analyzed these issues and presented solutions.
Photo gallery participant Alycia Dupont, a DNHS senior, took photographs of parks throughout the San Luis Valley, both when occupied by people but also when empty. Dupont explained she found the parks to be empty far too often and their natural beauty and function as a spontaneous gathering place to meet new friends and interact has been largely abandoned unless there are scheduled events. “It’s sad because it’s a nice place,” she said, looking at her photo titled, “Fun is what you make of it.” “People would rather be at home on their phones.”
Dupont also included photos of natural landscapes and people kayaking near the Rio Grande Farm Park and Cole Park in Alamosa with titles including “Natural Beauty is Everywhere” and “Be Productive. Be Healthy. Be Happy.” When asked how she would seek solutions to the empty parks, Dupont answered “They could either have more events or have people broadcast they aren’t being put to use.” Dupont explained the necessity of being social, getting outdoors and interacting with others in improving mental health.
Garcia’s photo collage also emphasized the ease of having fun in a group of friends when they are willing make an open-minded effort. Garcia included a photo titled “You don’t need drugs to make friends” explaining he recently attended a youth leadership conference at the University of Denver where the attendees, despite different backgrounds and goals, all bonded through acceptance, “Each one accepts what makes them weird and wacky in their own way; it makes them better.”
Garcia also included a black and white photo he took on a subway in Washington D.C. while there for an Upward Bound trip, “Life isn’t all black and white.” Garcia explained “Everyone seems disconnected…everyone is in their own worlds and look angry or grumpy, which leads to people feeling dissatisfied, hopeless and depressed.” Garcia believes a way to break this pattern is to go out and look for beauty in the world, “even when it’s destroying itself,” he stated, showing a picture of the burn scar on La Veta pass following the Spring Fire. “People can choose what they see is beautiful and what they see is destructive,” he explained, elaborating on the positive aspects of the fire for renewing nature.
Garcia also included a photo of raindrops hitting a lake and rippling outward, “It represents how you can affect everyone around you, intentionally or unintentionally and you should choose to make it a good affect.”
Daisah Atencio, a DNHS senior, utilized photos that depicted juxtaposition between bright lighting and dreary lighting to drive home the message of her photos. Atencio also depicted public spaces that were virtually abandoned at times, compared with the positivity found in public spaces that were full of interaction. She showed an empty playground she used to enjoy as a kid, now empty, in “Good Memories Never Forgotten” and compared it to a bright picture of the Stampede carnival lights and a photo of her friends running into each other at the carnival, smiling and enjoying their time together in “Keep in the bond between friends strong, so they can be there for you when something is wrong.” Atencio also drove home another point about making positive choices to help your community in the two photos “Beauty and darkness coexist but it’s your job to decide which one to resist,” after seeing adults acting sketchy in a park but compared to a picture of Peyton’s Baseball Park, which she explained showed the determination of a community trying to do something good.
Atencio also emphasized the importance of family bonding in her work and the importance of finding positive alternatives that are not far away and often very familiar, but they just have to be seen in a new light.
Mayah Dominguez, also a senior, emphasized technology depriving families of vital interactions and contributing to isolation in often ironic places. In her photo “There really are two types of people” Dominguez showed two groups of people in the same space, some laughing and enjoying the company of their friends and the other dismal and disconnected from their surroundings, focused on their phones. In “How is everyone so close yet so far apart?” Dominguez showed a picture of a family reunion she attended where family members were also disconnected and looking at their phones, but pointed out the great potential in social media in some of the other group photos taken at the reunion, noting “Over 100 people were able to coordinate and attend for the first time.”
Dominguez included other pictures of couples and families not interacting in public spaces, including a family of four, with two young children, where all four were on different devices and ignoring one another. However, she also included a photo of the last event coordinated by the local Save the Children representatives, which included parents and children at an event watching a performer rapping instead of reading a children’s book, in her photo “Parents who can put down their phone for a second can engage in amazing opportunities with their children.” “It was amazing to see,” said Dominguez of the joy being expressed by the families who attended. She hopes people understand from her work, “There’s a good place and potential for technology, but maybe when we’re in a group we should learn to talk with each other.”
Senior Isabella Arellano noted she strongly disagrees with those who say there is nothing to do in the area. Arellano’s work depicted her perspective that positivity is what you make of the little moments with friends, as shown in her photo “Find a way to get together, even for a minute” depicting a smiling moment at school. Arellano also emphasized the importance of getting out into nature in her picture “You can’t enjoy the beauty of life from your bedroom.” She explained the story behind her photo; her and her cousin who she often goes on adventures into nature with, had been driving and stopped to stretch and walk around and came across a completely unexpected waterfall. Arellano was somewhat secretive about the location but used the photo as a reminder “you’ll never see what the world has to offer if you don’t get out and try.” Many of Arellano’s other photos showed her family enjoying quality time at home and interacting with others at a parent night dinner. Arellano stated her overall theme was “Interact with people, even in little ways. You don’t have to go out, just spend meaningful, actual time with each other.”
The Del Norte and Monte Vista Prevention Youth Councils have taken on numerous projects in their communities, including helping at Family Skate Nights, sharing information at the Monte Vista Farmers Markets, creating and giving informational presentations to middle school-aged youth, coordinating an annual youth leadership summit in Alamosa and completing projects within their schools as well. Both groups are seeking to recruit additional youth, especially in the earlier years of high school, to keep the councils and their progress active within their schools and the Rio Grande County community at large.