Toaxnoes Summer 2022

Nichols School Teams Up With

One Last Goal Foundation

To Promote Mental Wellness

Each year, One Last Goal Foundation hosts a charity hockey game at Nichols Ice Rink where teamsmade up of alumni and friends face off against each other. The friendly game is a time to come togetherand bring awareness to the foundation’s mission to bring awareness to mental wellness.

One Last Goal Foundation was founded in honor of late Nichols alumnus Matthew Benedict ’11. Its mission is to shift the stigma around mental health and provide resources to promote overall wellness. The foundation’s efforts are led by Benedict’s family and three of his closest friends and classmates, Joe Avino ’11, Charlie Stein ’11, and Jake Zimmer ’11, who make attending the annual hockey game a priority each year.

“Just bringing everyone together gets everyone talking. You might see someone you haven’t seen or talked to in a couple years and see how they’re doing, if they need anything,” Stein said. “People like to feel cared about, and I think that can help someone mentally in the long run and having confidence totalk about these issues. The hockey game has gone a long way to start some conversations. It’s something we look forward to every year and gets us really excited for the future.”

Benedict was a standout student, a three-sport varsity athlete in football, hockey, and lacrosse, and an Alumni Cup winner at Nichols. He attended Middlebury College and was a captain of their football team, graduating cum laude with a degree in economics. Benedict’s friends

Following the charity hockey game, William Benedict, father, dropped the puck at the Nichols Prep hockey game with his son Michael (left), wife Anne (middle) and daughter Elizabeth ’12.

remember him as fiercely loyal, who led by example and knew when to speak out in support of others.

During his time at Middlebury, Benedict became more open with his family and friends about his own mental health struggles. The day after he graduated from Middlebury in May 2015, Benedict shared a blog post titled, “Start the Conversation Now… Life is Precious,” which detailed his own journey.

“Matt was a private guy and there were a lot of things he would keep to himself. Writing about how he felt on his blog was as much about his passion for this message as it was for him coping with what he was going through at the time,” said Avino. “That was the first time I had heard about his passion for this topic. In high school, we didn’t have any pointed topics about it by any means, and in college, we did have talks aboutit. He was extremely candid and passionate.”

After Benedict’s death by suicide in 2019, his family started the One Last Goal Foundation. Those who knew him joined the cause to promote awareness around mental health as a part of individuals’ overall well-being. In addition to the charity hockey game, the foundation sponsors presentations by mental health professionals, including Ross Szabo, who visited Nichols and shared his own mental health journey.

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Group photo of the alumni and friends that came back to play in the One Last Goal Fundraiser on December 10, 2021 at Nichols School.

“Presentations like this have kickstarted a number of really great conversations. To even play a small part in changing the narrative and making people feel more comfortable having those conversations, that’s what inspires me to keep working with this foundation,” said Avino.

What’s next for the One Last Goal Foundation? It plans to continue the annual Charity Hockey Night and

bring more guest speakers to raise awareness and add context to the community’s understanding of mental health and well-being. The group also aspires to provide scholarships and internship programs to support students who share Benedict’s values. •

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