On Thursday night, the Buffalo Academy of Science held its third annual health and wellness fair as part of Mental Health Awareness Month.
"It's really important to bring to our families resources that are not always at our fingertips," said Stephanie Stodolka, the Director of Social-Emotional Learning at Buff Sci.
An estimated 40 to 50 organizations were represented at the event, tabling on everything from mental health, physical health, wellness, to even estate planning.
"You try and get in contact with people, or you need somebody for something, it's really hard sometimes to find that person,"she added. "So, to be able to come into a familiar place, have all these agencies and just different things going on and at your fingertips. It's really nice to build those in person contacts."
At the fair, sophomores Leyla and Eileen were both volunteering with the blood drive, but found themselves wandering the education tables.
“At first I was just attending, but then I started volunteering with my friend, and I'm really enjoying it,” Leyla said.
“It's been actually very informative and very fun. I've learned about a lot of new things that I didn't really know before,” Leyla added.
Both girls played a game of Jeopardy focused on substance use and learned more about vaping.
“I didn't know that vapes were worse than cigarettes, because they are literally like, if you finish, like, a whole vape, apparently it's like 25 packs of cigarettes,” Leyla said.
Eileen said she learned about a broad range of topics.
“I learned about nicotine, I've learned about self-harm, mental health, child services and things like that,” Eileen said.
The school’s fair also included yoga, Zumba, sensory stations, a DJ, food trucks and more.
That holistic approach — talking about a wide range of topics using different approaches — isn’t unique to the fair. Social worker Jesse Rafter said BuffSci takes a unique approach to student wellness through both fun events and having two social workers in each school.
“We have one or a small group of students in front of us, and we foster a very trusting, safe environment for that student using a lot of different principles, ” Rafter said, describing their in-school program.
“Trauma informed care is one of the things that we really incorporate into how we approach students," Rafter added. "And using that to try to build that relationship where a student feels they can come to us, speak to us about things that are going on.”
For Eileen and Leyla, something as simple as a health fair made to be fun, inviting and nonjudgmental opens up conversations.
“I think it's really informative,” Eileen said. “And I feel like if I were to talk to my friends about it, it would be kind of like, more like, 'oh, you should come next time.'”
