Educating Grief by Katie

Educating Grief by Katie - February 2020 Scholarship Essay

When grief hits it's like a rollercoaster of emotions, it may start as pain, suffering, and depression, but mixed in your memories bring you joy, love and a round of gut-wrenching tears. As an adult dealing with these emotions, we can lose our way. Imagine doing that as a child, someone who is still expected to learn to read, write, complete math problems, and manage the adolescent lifestyle. If I could create a non-profit I would incorporate education of grief into every school in every state across the world.
I want to make a program that is based on age-appropriate content, to not only support families, and students who have lost someone close to them, but also teachers their peers how to help be a support system for them. By educating our youngest generation about a death we are teaching them that every feeling is okay, that some days will be good, some bad, and some emotional and all of those feelings are acceptable. I want to show every student that is experiencing loss that they are not alone on the journey and that they are being supported by their peers, their school staff and the community.
When my own kids lost their father, I was asked to take my kids to a grief group, the group across town (almost 45 minutes away) with no connections of peers was very difficult. I want to see a support system local, in the community where the child already attends school.
If I was able to create a non-profit, I would create a grief group at every school, for every child to become educated on how to support each other, that all feelings are okay, and that they are not alone!