In the final stretch of the school year, when sleep dwindles from seven hours to four and the pressure of AP Exams looms ahead, there is one club, committed to supporting mental health on campus: Mindful4Life.

Founded by seniors Burke Gordon and Brandon Kim, the club came to life from a mutual desire to change the way mental health is seen on campus. What started as a casual conversation between two friends has developed into an ongoing initiative dedicated to raising awareness on the topic.

“We started Mindful4Life after recognizing a gap in how mental health was being discussed at (the school),” Gordon said. “As students, we face a lot of pressure to succeed academically, athletically, and socially, and it can be hard to admit when you’re struggling. Brandon and I wanted to create a space where conversations about mental health, particularly amongst men, felt normal.”

The space has been a big help to some students. To sophomore Alex White, a dedicated member of the Mindful4Life club, the club has helped him discover a new sense of hope and belonging that he didn’t know he needed.

“I’ve always struggled with my mental health. Beginning in seventh grade, it started affecting me a lot. My grades dropped, and I just started hating life,” White said. “Because the environment is so stressful, the people here probably struggle even more than compared to other places, and currently, we don’t have too much awareness about it.”

To sophomore Tyson Diep, the club has two parts: education and awareness. Before joining the club, he understood that mental health meant something to him, but he felt he didn’t know enough about the subject, even after taking the school’s required Health and Wellness course. Now, serving as vice president of the club, he feels that the more important half of the club’s mission is raising awareness.

“The awareness part is about putting it on people’s minds and reminding them that it’s okay to feel these things,” Diep said. “People might think it’s obvious, but really, we’re all in our own worlds all the time. This is a horrible, awful time of year for most people.”

One of Diep’s goals is to encourage students to “break out” from monotonous daily life during the school year. Though crucial for the brain’s recovery, sleep and relaxation are often neglected in favor of the conventional “grind”.

“People would say, ‘What is the point of going out and doing a tug of war? That’s just a waste of my time. I don’t want to be there. I have things I need to do,” Diep said. “Really, the purpose of that is to have people come out of their little box of just trying to survive the year. You can go out there and have fun with your classmates for a second and even have an insight of the bigger picture.”

Men’s Mental Health Week included a guest speaker, a class tug of war and a roundtable to discuss brotherhood and support systems on campus. The club’s faculty sponsor, Dr. Mary Bonsu, was most excited about the turnout for the week’s events.

“Turnout for either the guest speaker or the roundtable wasn’t mandatory – just encouraged,” Bonsu said. “The neuroscience of addiction talk, ‘Betting on the Brain,’ hit max capacity. We had over 100 guys show up. For the roundtable, we expected 15 to 20, but we got 30. That attendance really meant a lot.”

Gordon was equally thrilled about the roundtable, especially because of how many underclassmen put themselves out there and participated in the discussion.

“It’s always rewarding to give students a space where they can openly share their struggles, and even more fulfilling when upperclassmen step in to share solutions and offer advice,” Gordon said. “The involvement and conversations within the roundtable made it feel like we’re really starting to create a lasting culture of vulnerability and brotherhood at St. Mark’s.”

This year, the club sold more than 200 shirts and raised more than $1,400 for The Jed Foundation (JED), a non-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of teenage suicide. With 10 percent of high school students attempting suicide in the past year (according to JED), the topic of mental health has never been more important. Looking ahead, Kim hopes that Mindful4Life’s impact on the community will continue to grow beyond his time on campus, creating a culture that future students carry forward. 

“I hope to come back to St. Mark’s in 10 years and see mental health treated more seriously,” Kim said, “as well as Mental Health Week continuing with leadership from committed students.”