The American Psychological Association and Pediatric Psychology Association have designated November as Brain Injury Awareness month. The Psychology club is preparing activities to promote awareness a growing youth issue: concussions.
The club’s president Marina Han is organizing 2 contests. Students who have experienced a head injury or have a friend or family member who has suffered from one can submit a personal narrative essay for a chance to get their work featured in La Puma. “I thought it would be a god idea to spread awareness about concussions and educate kids about it, since some of them aren’t taught the prevention methods or the treatment methods properly,” she said.
The other part of the competition is a flyer contest. According to Han, students have to make a flyer that includes at least 1 image and 2 statistics that must address the risks, consequences, prevention, and treatment of brain injury. Also, it must be geared towards student athletes.
“Concussion awareness month is also to learn about what happens when you have a concussion,” said psychology teacher Paul Verbanzsky. “Anytime you have trauma to the brain that causes the brain to hit the skull at easily 35-40 MPH, it causes damage in the brain tissue that 20 years later can cause many illnesses related to that,” he explained.
Verbanzsky added that things have changed in the last couple of years. In the past, if a student hit their head in a sports game they would come off the field for a couple of minutes and then just go back in and continue playing. “Now many rules have changed, and the gear is being improved,” he said.
Han was inspired while working on a project over the summer. “During the summer, I was helping this professor write a book about concussions and I had to read a lot of texts on it. I realized many kids in our school have brain injuries from different sports or every day accidents, and I thought it would be a good idea to spread awareness about it,” she explained.
