INDEPENDENCE, Mo — Students at James Bridger Middle School were joined by their peers, former Kansas City Chiefs players and the NFL Network on Tuesday morning for a discussion on mental health.
What is mental health? How do we prioritize it? And what role does friendship play in it all? These were some of the questions posed by the panel. The students were encouraged to think, respond, and most importantly, be challenged to go out into the world and become the embodiment of what they talked about.
“Some of my takeaways were it’s okay to ask for help, and if you need help, you can ask one of your parents. Not even your parents — it can be a school teacher or your coach,” said sixth grader, McKegn Giles. “Always listen and pick friends that, you know, are gonna help you in life.”
The live panel was hosted by Character Playbook, an education program sponsored by the NFL and United Way. It travels to schools across the nation and opens up conversations around healthy relationships, character building and life skills.
Tuesday morning’s panel discussion hit three main points: the importance of mentorship, characteristics of a good friend and how to be your own advocate.
Part of the panel were former Chiefs who now have children of their own. They say middle school is a crucial time to get it right.
“You’ve got that first intuition of how to handle the ups and downs and the in-betweens,” said former Kansas City Chiefs offensive guard and NFL Hall of Famer Will Shields.
Former Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive lineman, Tim Grunhard, says he was in attendance because he feels a responsibility to cultivate the future leaders of Kansas City, not to mention the future fans of the Kansas City Chiefs.
He says while times have changed, the lessons today are the same.
“The draft is so much different now — it’s such a production. But it’s still the same thing. You have to play well, you gotta make the right decisions, which these kids are gonna learn about today, and you gotta put yourselves in opportunity where somebody is gonna give you a chance to make a living,” said Grunhard.
Sixth grader Isabella Hanover says discussions like this leave deep impact, as she is aware that many of her peers are struggling.
“Just the stress of being in middle school, and we have a bunch of homework in classes and there’s MAP testing currently going on, so everybody is kind of under pressure,” said Hanover. “They all gave really great advice that I can definitely use myself.”
