Key Club speakers at the Feb. 9 Kiwanis Club meeting are, from left, Honorary Board Member Adrian Koo, Treasurer Lucia Rudin, Lieutenant Governor Angel Meng and President Emily Xu. Courtesy photo

BY BROOKE DAVIS
Kiwanis Club

At the Kiwanis February 9 meeting, the Los Alamos High School Key Club gave a presentation on their recent mental health event, “Let’s Taco-Bout It”, held at the SALA Event Center. Emily Xu, Angel Meng, Lucia Rudin, and Adrian Koo talked about the Key Club’s fundraising activities for mental health awareness and outlined the event activities.

The event had an audience of 35 to 40 and featured two speakers. Magdalena Karlick, Los Alamos Juvenile Justice Advisory Board (JJAB) First-Aid Trainer discussed what could cause adverse emotions, such as fight, flight, fawn, or freeze and how to manage them with breathing and muscular exercises.

Jessica Strong, Los Alamos Community Social Services Director, explained various mental health disorder causes and identification methods for when someone needs help. She followed up with information on how to get that help.

The event was catered by El Parasol (who did indeed serve tacos) and was well received. The
Key Club has made mental health awareness a priority and have, in addition to this event, raised $5000 for Erika’s Lighthouse, a nonprofit dedicated to advocating and raising awareness about adolescent depression, encouraging good mental health and breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health issues. The Key Club is pursuing a project to place QR codes around the high school with information on mental health resources.