June 14, 2024 – The Dallas Morning News reports on the Brewer Foundation Future Leaders Program (FLP) holding a session on mental health for FLP high school students participating in the program’s summer camp.
Founded in 2001, the Future Leaders Program (FLP) provides academic resources and leadership training to deserving students from the Dallas Independent School District (DISD).
Instructor Mayra Salinas-Godsey, an FLP graduate who now works at New York University, taught the class, “Rise & Thrive: Building Mental Strength for College Success and Beyond.” The course is intended to assist students with anxiety about applying for and transitioning to college.
“So like most of you, I know, are first-gen or second-gen,” Salinas-Godsey told the students. “We’re pioneers for our family. We are doing things that they may not have ever experienced before. It’s a little scary.”
FLP intern and graduate Erica Salazar, now a student at Northwestern University, said she 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.”
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