On May 17, 9th through 12th grade students in My Mental Health Matters (MMHM), a new club at State High, presented May’s Straight Talk session. MMHM is a student-formed club that aims to erase the stigma attached to issues surround mental health. Under the guidance of high school counselors Patty Devecka and Suzanne Lyke, Jana Marie Foundation’s President Marisa Vicere, and State High alumnus Shawn Bainbridge, members strive to bring awareness to common feelings of doubt or helplessness and most importantly, to let students know that they are never alone in the State High halls. Their Straight Talk presentation covered the importance of mental health awareness from a student perspective. The students responsible for forming MMHM were moved by troubling results from the most recent Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS), which reflected alarmingly high rates of depression and suicidal ideation. They identified that the importance of physical health receives a great deal of attention, but mental health is often neglected. The…