ATLANTA — It’s been one year since violence at Benjamin E. Mays High School in Southwest Atlanta left four students injured.
Four teen boys were injured in that shooting. All of those victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Now, a new wellness center for students is open on campus, meant to provide a way to help students deal with the aftermath, and find support, while they’re in school or going through a tough time.
Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach was at Benjamin E. Mays to see what the new wellness center was like.
The grand opening of the new student wellness center comes a year after a painful day for the community.
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“That event happened, but that does not dictate who we are, truly represent who we are,” Dr. Ramon Garner, the principal, said.
School staff said they started seeing challenges in students with fears, some who were missing school, some who were more anxious or depressed, so they decided to make a safe haven for them.
“What’s now a cool hangout area, looks like a living room over here, a place for games or chess...you can tell what used to be here, a science lab that is now called the Well,” Garner said.
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At the Well, students will be able to get help with mental health, emotional support, and overall well-being.
“This is a place to come in that’s relaxing, calming to them and a place to receive the services they need,” Garner told Channel 2 Action News.
He said it’s not just for those most at-risk, struggling with attendance, discipline or grades, but open to any student.
Mays High senior Benjamin Adkinson remembers the shooting last year and said it led to the community rallying and opened a discussion that led to the new wellness center.
“It was so immediate, so unexpected,” Adkinson said. “There are times when I’m trying to figure out where to go, who to talk to about certain problems that I have and times I just can’t figure it out.”
As far as how the wellness center was made? That’s also down to the community coming together.
“No school funds or taxpayer dollars went to creating this…there was a $10,000 grant from The Home Depot, along with donations from community organizations and individuals,” Garner said.
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