School is out for summer, but a steady flow of students still trickled into the Dallas Episcopal School last Monday morning for day one of the Brewer Foundation’s Future Leaders Program annual summer camp.
The program, designed to help Dallas ISD students with college readiness, has launched a new summer curriculum targeting mental health in response to students’ anxieties about both applying and transitioning to college.
Erica Salazar, a current FLP intern who was in the program prior to attending Northwestern University, said the program’s support helped her transition to college. Now, she’s excited for current students to have a structured curriculum geared toward teaching coping strategies, emotional regulation and self reliance.
“The upcoming senior class … is already stressed about college. They were already thinking about where they were going to go, financial situations, just stressed [and] having breakdowns,” she said.
The program prioritizes recruiting first-generation and low-income students who have demonstrated academic excellence, said FLP Director Rosie De La Garza. First-generation and low-income students face unique obstacles both applying to and attending colleges, often navigating financial and social barriers with fewer resources and less structured support, Salazar said.
The program is in its 23rd year, and it generally serves students from South Dallas, West Dallas and Oak Cliff. Its partners are the Dallas school district, the Episcopal School of Dallas, the Hockaday School, Greenhill School and St. Mark’s School of Texas.
FLP’s new curriculum, called “Rise & Thrive: Building Mental Strength for College Success and Beyond,” is taught by Mayra Salinas-Godsey, an FLP alumni and first-generation college student who graduated from the program in 2010. Planning for Salinas-Godsey’s course began after 36 FLP students went on a trip to New York City in early May.
Students on the trip got to explore the Northeast and familiarize themselves with new urban landscapes, spending their time visiting colleges such as Yale University and Fordham University, as well as sightseeing and supporting peers debating at the Brewer Foundation’s and New York University’s annual International Public Policy Forum. Though the trip offered students new experiences and insight, several of them told FLP leadership they felt anxious being far from their homes and realized they needed additional support.
“There were times where I would get overwhelmed being in New York and being in this very fast-paced place,” said Anaya Martinez, a 17-year-old rising senior in FLP. “I’m not used to it and I didn’t really know how to deal with it.”
“I was alone,” she added. “My parents weren’t there and my mom wasn’t there. How do I deal with my mental health when the person I love the most isn’t near me?”
Navigating college
Salinas-Godsey’s course aims to teach students just that. At the beginning of her session, she asked students to write out their own definitions of mental health and mental wellness on brightly colored index cards fanned out across the table. The students wrote down various interpretations before Salinas-Godsey asked for volunteers to share. A few hands shot up.
One student shared that for them, “mental health is a way to respond to situations and any emotions along the way.”
Another said mental wellness meant “the ability to take care of, and improve, your mental health, and being aware of some steps you can take to do that.”
De La Garza said FLP’s redirected focus on mental health also aims to fill in any emotional gaps resulting from students not having conversations about mental health at home.
“Once you get to college, no one’s there for you. So you have to navigate yourself, you know,” she said. “So what does that look like? How do you identify when you’re starting to get overwhelmed? And what tools can you have in your back pocket for those situations?”
According to Salinas-Godsey’s class, potential tools include emotional intelligence, active listening, self awareness, decision making and intentional mental wellness.
“Combining that, we’re going to practice all this to help our personal growth and professional development,” she said. “These skills … are all interconnected, right? It’s going to support you as a person. It’s going to help you grow as a leader, as a student and beyond.”
Salinas-Godsey said that although college can be challenging for first-generation, low-income students, the FLP support system will continue to be a resource, even as students become alumni.
“So like most of you, I know, are first-gen or second-gen,” she said. “We’re pioneers for our family. We are doing things that they may not have ever experienced before. It’s a little scary.”
Salazar advises her peers to give themselves grace.
“I know a lot of these students are top A students, like the top of their class, and they’re doing the best that they can do … but once you’re in college, it’s completely different,” Salazar said. “And if you’re doing your best and you still somehow end up stumbling across a small obstacle, it’s OK. It’s OK to feel stress, and it’s OK not to be OK. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”
