Senior Mia Hernandez has been addressing mental health for minority students in predominantly white communities through her Humanities Capstone project. She decided on the topic due her own experiences at Central.

“[It] came [from] my experience [with] poor mental health help at schools,” Hernandez said. “I feel like the school was not doing enough for people, especially [for] teens. Especially [during] my freshman year, there was really no help.”

Hernandez is planning on creating a mentorship program for students at Central.

“I want to make a program where [Central] alumni are mentors to new students and they help you navigate through things like your college experience and also internships and mental health,” Hernandez said. “I think doing that at Naperville Central can be really helpful towards students because it not only lets students build relationships that will last with their teachers and other staff members, it also lets students meet new staff members who they had preconceived notions about. And I think it would also help our staff of color interact with students of color.”

Hernandez hopes to improve social emotional learning, too.

“Social emotional learning is just not being valued to the degree that should be,” she said. “Teachers just are treating [students] differently based on stereotypes, and their personal implicit bias. It’s really upsetting knowing that there’s research behind that and it’s a problem, and no one is really trying to fix such a prominent issue.”