Stress Handling

It's that time of the year!

STRESS ...
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                                                                                                   STRESS...

AND                                             

MORE                                
                                                                                                    STRESS .


School can be stressful. Life can be stressful. And then on top of that, you have the nerve to care about your future and come to Upward Bound two Saturdays out of the month.

When it's finals week, you have AP courses, tournaments, community service, family functions, work and the holidays; life seems to just hit you!

You know how you can tell its the end of the semester?

• Things keep falling (literally)
• Up later than usual
• All assignments are due at one time
• Days you requested off months ago at work; seem to be lost in transaction
• There is a tournament and/or competition every weekend
• Every paper and project is due on the same night
• You're more emotional
• People say that you're cranky
• All you want to do is eat junk food and watch Netflix

YOU'RE STRESSED!

How do you handle all the stress?



One: Acknowledge that you are stressed and pinpoint what is the underlining issue.

Example: You work too many hours which means you're not focusing as much on academics. Which then leads to you not being prepared for finals.
Step 1: "I am stressed."
Step 2: "I'm probably working too much
Step 3: "I have not had time to study which means I am not ready for finals."


Two: Ask for help.

We live in a world where asking for help is like a disease. We just don't want it. It means we're doing something wrong if we ask for help. But seek out help. Talk to a counselor or talk to someone who is unbiased. Do not always talk to people that you are close with. We have a lot of "Yes-men" in our lives, but we need those tough-love conversations. Seek a counselor or therapist, talk to your doctor, find a mentor or find a support group OR you can even talk to a teacher or coach!


Three: Coping Skills

Find a hobby that is healthy that will help you cope with your stress.
Buy a planner to help you better organize.
Exercise

Sing
Dance
Walk
Something to take your mind off of the stress and recharge your body. 












Four: Remember your support system!
HEC UB is a support system for you. You can always reach out to the staff, teachers and remember we have a social worker that is strictly here for you! Use us!

Meet the Peer Leaders

Ms. Nolan developed the Peer Leaders group in 2016. This was a new journey for HEC Upward Bound. Ms. Nolan saw a vision for student leadership. Ms. Nolan thought "Since we work with students and we want to help build their character then why not allow them to test and learn their leadership skills?" Her main goal for the Peer Leader Program is for the Peer Leaders to serve as the liasion for the students. Through this program students are able to voice their opinions and thoughts to the staff. HEC Upward Bound understands that education is more than academics. It's home-life and social-life as well. The Peer Leaders help the staff to understand and meet the students' needs. We try to develop activities based on the students along with College preparation. Peer Leaders also have the opportunity to serve HEC Upward Bound. They have created volunteer opportunities and student lead activities. 

Take moment to meet your Peer Leaders:

Miracle Baker, Soldan International Studies High School

Nylah Burns, Soldan International Studies High School

Ean Johnson, Grand Center Arts Academy

Samuel Lewis, Metro Academic and Classical High School

Kendra McCall, Metro Academic and Classical High Schol

Addressing Emotional Health

Emotional Health:

 

We live in a society  where everyone is always on the go. From parenting to coaching to school to cooking to working out to reading to mentoring to athletic teams to supporting friends to dinner with the family to sleep. Every minute of our day is literally on a schedule. 

But then...


When we do have a chance to rest; we feel bad for sleeping or occupy it with homework, hanging out with people, cleaning or completing all the chores and errands we just haven't had time for. We literally do not know how to sit still, rest and relax. 

However, we need rest. We need to take care of ourselves in order to take care of everything around us. Health is more than diet and exercise. It's a lifestyle. While the physical health is important; we can not correctly take care of our physical without the emotional health.


What is Emotional Health?  
According to Mental Health Foundation emotional health is defined as: 
"A positive sense of well being which enables an individual to be able to function in society and meet the demands of everyday life; people in good mental health have the ability to recover effectively from illness, change or misfortune."

How do I regulate my emotions?

Holly Nemec from Behavioral Health Response (BHR) and Robin House a school counselor from Stix Elementary came and spoke to our students about Emotional Regulation. Both professionals discussed how to regulate emotions for an every day life. According Nemec, regulation can be defined as "calm. focused or relaxed." It's a state where we can handle our every day life activities and the stressors in our life. Nemec described it as a window of tolerance.

What is dysregulation?
Nemec also described dysregulation as "the state of being out of the window of tolerance." We can see this when we are referred to being stressed out. 

 How to handle Stress?
Grounding- Grounding is a set of simple strategies to self-regulate, manage stress or detach from emotional pain. You can think of it as a distraction, centering, safe place, looking outward or health detachment (Truman Medical Centers).

Examples of Grounding (Truman Medical Centers)
Mental Grounding: helps focus your mind

• Count to 10 or say the alphabet slowly
• Describe your environment in details

Physical Grounding: means focusing on your senses

• Run cool water over your hands
• Stretch
• Focus on your breathing

Soothing Grounding: talking to yourself in a very kind way

• Say kind statements
• Remember a safe place
• Say a coping statement 

House and Nemec gave examples from their person life on how they handled stress and what they used to stress about when they were high school. They had a lot of barrier to overcome, but now they are both in fields where they are assisting other people to overcome their barriers. Both professionals brought different and educated outlooks on emotional health. 

HEC Upward Bound is very grateful for Robin House and Holly Nemec! 

HEC Upward Bound has taken a stance on learning and teaching about Emotional Health. We realize that our students deal with a lot of different situations when it comes to education and their lives outside of education.  Emotional health is not a subject that is taught often and if it is; there is a real basic knowledge of it. HEC Upward Bound hopes to provide the knowledge and opportunity for resources if the HEC UB Family needs it. Even if the HEC UB family does not exactly need it right now; we hope that you take the resource and know that you have it for someone else or for the future.

From Student to Staff Member

Please help the HEC Upward Bound Staff welcome our newest staff member:

Angel Lewis

 

Angel Lewis graduated from McKinley Classical Leadership Academy in May 2017. She successfully completed the HEC Upward Bound program. Angel was one of the top students who held a 95% attendance or higher.  She participated in the academic and summer components of HEC Upward Bound. Angel Lewis is a natural born leader with a sense of humor. She brings organization, smiles, and bright ideas to the team. Currently, Angel is attending Forest Park Community College studying Graphic Communication.

This is the goal of HEC Upward Bound. Our goal is not to get you to high school graduation to pass through college, but to help prepare you for life after high school. We're not expecting everyone to move out of St. Louis, get a 4.0 GPA, become president and give thousands of dollars back to us. 

No...

We hope to serve as your support system, encourage you, assist you, complete your FAFSA, apply to college and apply for scholarships, but also talk with you, share ideas, plan out your goals and discuss your health with you. College is more than academics; it's a time for you to figure out who you are and what you want to do in your life. HEC Upward Bound wants to help you with all of that. We are a family!

 We are so happy to add Angel Lewis to our staff member team. We are proud of Angel and all that she has accomplished. We look forward to watching her grow and pursue her dreams and aspirations! 

Learning to be Healthy

 TAKING CARE OF HEC UPWARD BOUND STUDENTS

HEC Upward Bound has some amazing leaders that go through this program. Each year the staff is impressed with the students we have recruited and the students who prospered through the program.



Our students have set such a high standard in our program. Students have come, been on time, kept in communication with the staff, they participate in all activities, have positive attitudes and bring new and fun ideas to the program!

 Health is a subject that we've been trying to express to our students and teachers. Our first parent meeting was October 21st, 2017. We called it our Health & Fitness Day.


Lo Blackwell is from the YMCA. She came and taught us a short and quick 30-minute workout that we can complete literally anywhere! We had so much fun while learning how to be healthy!

Afterwards, students said they felt strong, motivated and asked a lot of questions about eating healthy!



We had a blast!


It is very important to take care of your emotional health, but realize the effect that physical health on our mental and emotional health. Being active can help release stress and gain energy. Our body works together. When we take care of our body we are able to take care of everything else. Everything around us is connected.

TAKING CARE OF YOU

Lo Blackwell, Personal Trainer, YMCA

New Series: The "Why" of the HEC UB Staff

The HEC UB staff will be giving feedback as to why they are here as a college & career professional.

This week we will hear from our very own Director of HEC Upward Bound, Mr. Armstrong:

"In high school, I did not have many people to help me prepare for college. I made many mistakes that I would have avoided if I had known better. I studied Biology in college and worked in that field for a while, but was drawn toward education. The reason I enjoy my current position so much is because I get to teach young people the lessons I wish someone would have taught me. It is my way of giving back."

 Mr. Armstrong is a husband, father, son and a professional who has dedicated his life to teaching youth the lessons that he wished he would have known when he was growing up.

Mr. Armstrong also has a scholarship in honor of his mother. This scholarship provides $1,000 per year for 4 years while attending college.

Mr. Armstrong is a strong and structured leader who believes in discipline but providing a positive opportunity for the people coming up behind his team and him.

 

If you want it then go get it!

Hello to the HEC UB family, friends & partners!

We have missed you all! The summer was very eventful and very encouraging. We came back into the school year hitting the ground running. We are so very excited for this school year and we have plenty of new ideas and programs that we hope you all will enjoy. 

Recap of last year:

• Last year we focused on the "Super Powers" that we have within ourselves. 
• We watched all the Kung Fu Panda movies and related the movies to our lives
• Every teacher related their lessons to "super powers"
• We visited Atlanta, Georgia for the college tour 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

What's new for this year: 

• This year's theme is Success: Leaving a Family Legacy
•  We will be focusing on what Success looks like to each of us individually and recognizing what type of legacy we want to leave behind for the next generation to pick up!
• We will continue our Parent Meetings on the second Saturday that we meet each month, but there will be the theme for each of those meetings. We are calling them "Spirit Saturdays."
• October 21st is the first "Spirit Saturday."  It will be Health & Fitness. Families are encouraged to wear "Gym Clothes to Saturday Academy."
• This year we are welcoming almost 20 new participants within the program
• We have started our very own "Series" titled Education & Family! Be on the lookout for episodes!

What to expect:

• This year we are looking for students who want to be here. We are looking for that motivation to get to that success you see for yourself.
• We are a program that was developed to be a support system and to help guide, but students and family know that YOU have to want it for yourself. 
• While we want to save everyone and while we want to see success in each and every one of your lives, you have to want it just as bad as we want it for you!