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HONOR ROLLS: Celebrate students’ academic achievements PAGE 3B - 5B
New pilot program helps students master mental health BY JACKIE BUSSJAEGER REGIONAL STAFF WRITER
WHITE BEAR LAKE — Good mental health is important to leading healthy and successful lives, but we often don’t learn how to take care of our mental health until well into adulthood. In a nation that has seen increasing violence and self-harm among children, addressing mental health among youth is more important than ever. A new nonprofit called Inner Genius is hoping to make a difference by testing a new pilot program in White Bear Schools this month. The program, titled Mental Emotional Mastery, will challenge a class of fifth graders at Matoska International IB World School to learn about their
emotional and mental wellness and explore healthy ways to manage emotions. The pilot was designed by Shannon McCarty and Nycole Fry, who both have children in the school district. McCarty is a chiropractor who owns Soul Chiropractic in White Bear Lake. She has also studied neuropsychology and brings a strong scientific perspective to the program. “We feel that a lot of our increased violence and self-harm is due to intense feelings and thoughts in the kids with no understanding what it is and what to do,” McCarty said. Fry is an artist who has spent seven years working on art therapy programs with incarcerated individuals. In her conversations with incarcerated students, she has heard
again and again that one of the things people wished they had was some kind of program in schools that helps address unspoken emotional distress, especially for children who come from difficult home situations. “That was what really sparked my interest to dig deeper into it,” Fry said. She also studied social science, and said she enjoys learning about human behavior. The goal with Mental Emotional Mastery is to give students the tools and language they need to properly process emotions and learn to manage them by encouraging mindfulness and engaging the senses. “It’s therapeutic form of art, where we really tap into their emotions and encourage creative expression, INNER GENIUS
SEE INNER GENIUS, PAGE 9A
Logo for the new pilot program.
Kicking Grass: Native plantings foster environmental health BY ROY HEILMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
PAUL DOLS | PRESS PUBLICATIONS
Seasonal spring cleanup cycle Dynamic Recycling employees gather and sort a variety appliances and electronic devices during a recent collection event held in conjunction with the annual RITE of Spring (Really into the environment) event at Wildwood Elementary School. Along with appliances and electronic devices, area residents also were able to drop of paint and other household chemicals. The City of White Bear Lake and White Bear Township are joining forces this year for a “Trash to Treasure Day” on Saturday, April 29. Residents of the City and Township who wish to participate should place items they no longer want on the curb at the end of their driveways, clearly marked as “FREE.” The City of White Bear Lake also hosts a spring cleanup from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the first Saturday in May, but household hazardous waste is NOT accepted at that event . Find more information at ramseycounty.us/residents/recycling-waste/ or whitebearlake.org.
For more than 50 years, Earth Day has fostered awareness and action for the health of the environment. In that time, it has served to encourage large-scale efforts, like national and worldwide advocacy as well as localized work, in acts as simple as planting a tree. Other suggestions for homeowners include “Planting native species and pollinators to support biodiversity and beautify your outdoor living space.” This is not a new idea; homeowners have been incorporating, and even replacing their lawns with, native plants for years. Turf grass common to residential lawns promotes chemical use and supplemental watering, while offering no ecological value. Implications are far reaching, touching on groundwater and surface water quality, the pollinator crisis, and more. Converting lawn space to native plantings can help solve all of those problems, often with added benefits. Native plants—especially those from the tallgrass prairie— require little to no watering to thrive. Their root systems reach deep into soils (some over 10 feet), which make them highly resistant to droughts. Placing them in the hottest, driest parts of a yard can reduce or even eliminate watering needs. SEE NATIVE PLANTINGS, PAGE 9A
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