By Ashley Lau │ Staff Writer

Junior Lauren Chiou collaborated with the Gabrielino High School Wellness Center to create and distribute wellness kits to students this past Wednesday. Helping students relieve stress has been Chiou’s passion, even before the COVID-19 pandemic started, and became the focus of her Girl Scout Gold Award project.

   According to the Girl Scouts official website, the Gold Award is the most prestigious award that can be given to a scout. In order to earn the award, the scout must demonstrate that she has made a difference in her community by tackling an issue that is important to her.

Only six percent of Girl Scouts achieve the Gold Award, making Chiou’s accomplishment particularly noteworthy.

   “I was approaching my junior year of high school, which is around the time you were supposed to figure out your Gold Award Project,” explained Chiou. “I overheard Principal Heinrich talking about how they were starting up a Wellness Center. Originally, they needed someone to coordinate this lounge and I thought this was going to be a great opportunity, but when school closed down, I had to change my plans.”

   Approximately 150 students filled out the Google Form to pick up the Wellness Kits.

   “Lauren approached me in the winter about doing this, and we have had to be flexible with the dates,” stated Wellness Center Coordinator Chris Saporito. “She put together the survey and has really been the driving force behind this.”

   The main goal of this project is to bring the Gabrielino High School Wellness Center home to its students.

   Chiou explained, “I wanted to check up on the students of Gabrielino because this has been a really hard year for a lot of people. I feel like, not that it’s been ignored, but due to all the chaos, we’ve kind of begun to overlook our mental health and how we treat and take care of it.” 

  Each Wellness Kit contains a stress ball, herbal tea, a sleep mask, and a list of Wellness Center resources for students.   

  “It took me a few weeks to figure out what to put inside the Wellness Kits and how I wanted to assemble and pass them out,” stated Chiou. “As for the materials, it took a little over a month to get everything in place.”

   After several weeks, the collaboration was complete and Chiou focused on boosting student’s spirits.

   “I think the Wellness Kits definitely help,” Saporito said. “Students need to know that they are cared about and that the Wellness Center is here for them.”