Stacey Bibo knows that many of her 8th-grade students feel like middle school might just be the worst three years of their lives. Bibo, on the other hand, says getting to teach middle schoolers has been the best 25 years of her life.
“I love them. They're amazing. They're like mini-adults and little kids at the same time and I just think they're all so special,” Bibo said.
Though Bibo’s love for her middle schoolers hasn’t changed over the years, she has observed a change in them: their overall mental health has declined.
“They're becoming more depressed. They're becoming more anxious. They're becoming isolated. It really breaks my heart,” Bibo said.
Over the years, helping students with their mental health challenges became a bigger and bigger part of her job, with parents often leaning on Bibo for support.
“I would give them suggestions, offer the counselors, but I didn't feel like it was enough,” Bibo said.
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So, Bibo turned to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) for help. They provided materials and resources to educate eighth graders on understanding their mental health and that of their classmates.
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“I think it's very important to start at a young age because now we can identify the early signs of depression anxiety and know the right tools to navigate this,” Executive Director of NAMI Santa Clara Rowina Nimbalkar said.
Because NAMI’s support benefitted Bibo greatly, she felt she had to return the favor.
Three years ago, Bibo and her students at Ida Price Middle School formed a team to participate in NAMI’s annual fundraising walk, the first middle school to have one.
Students walked during PE surrounded by motivational messages they had created in class, raising money for NAMI.
“We've raised over $30,000 for NAMI, so it's super exciting,” Bibo said.
She knows her work is helping because students have told her it has made their time in middle school much better.
