Morgan’s Message, a new club at WHS, started in November by students Maran Gallivan, Abby Porier and Becca Schmidt. The goal of this club is to raise awareness about struggles and pressures athletes are under and to start conversations about athlete mental health. Krista Gainty has stepped up to be the advisor of the WHS chapter of Morgan’s Message. Meetings are held once a month in the health room and dates can be found on their instagram, @morgansmessage_walpole.
“Our first meeting introduced the Morgan’s Message non-profit and shared Morgan’s story with mental health. This was more of an informational meeting, but we are having our second meeting Monday, December 18. This meeting will be dedicated to coloring and designing MM logos that will be put around the school”, said Gallivan.
Morgan’s Message was created in response to Morgan Rogers death due to overwhelming pressure and mental struggles as a student athlete. She was a lacrosse player at Duke University, and when she severely injured her knee she had to stop playing lacrosse. This, in turn, took an immense toll on her mental health. The organization, started by her family, hopes to share her message and abolish the stigma surrounding mental health.
“Our goal as student-athletes is to foster an environment of acceptance in which athletes feel comfortable and accepted by those who can relate. We want to spread Morgan’s story to highlight the importance of starting the conversation about mental health”, said Gallivan.
The organizations butterfly logo is inspired by Morgan’s artwork and the semi-colon as the body of the butterfly represents solidarity with suicide, depression and other mental health issues. The organization has overall many goals: eliminating mental health stigma, equaling physical and mental health treatment for athletes, normalizing conversation, empowering people to speak up and to build an all-volunteer ambassador network. The ambassadors of Morgan’s Message at WHS have high hopes for their clubs’ future and hope to implement more meetings and fundraisers for the organization.
“We envision our Chapter of MM is able to fund and host dedication games for each sport where athletes can represent the Morgan’s Message logo and colors. As Morgan’s Message student athlete ambassadors, we are expected to host at least one fundraiser per semester, but we hope to exceed this and raise more money for the cause”, said Gallivan.
