Incarcerated students have garnered recognition for their outstanding contribution to addressing mental health issues through a compelling video submission. The group, operating under the pseudonym “The Voices Behind The Walls,” secured first place in a nationwide competition while choosing to remain anonymous.
These students are currently enrolled at Travis Hill School, situated within New Orleans’ juvenile detention center, and their identities are safeguarded due to the pending status of their cases. The school caters to approximately 40 students aged 13 to 18. Despite facing serious charges and the possibility of lengthy prison sentences, three students from this group bravely spoke to CBS News without disclosing their names.
The students believe that their unique circumstances have given them a profound perspective on mental health. One student shared, “They label us crazy because they don’t even know us. They don’t understand that I’m really a good child. I’ve been through some things. I did some things I regret, but at the end of the day, I’m a good child.” Another expressed, “I had a lot of hatred in my heart and I always felt, like, you know, I wasn’t enough. So, I just tried to … find that wound and that love somewhere else. And I thought I found it in the streets.”
Their award-winning video was submitted to the Aspen Challenge, an initiative that seeks solutions to domestic issues from high school students in select cities. Notably, the students from Travis Hill School faced the challenge of limited access to technology, which one student described as a “challenge” in itself. However, devising a plan to address mental health issues came naturally to them. Their proposal entails hosting biweekly family counseling sessions aimed at fostering understanding of each other’s grief and trauma.
“One student elaborated, “The parents will learn skills. They will also gain an understanding of what trauma is, what grief is, like stress, anxiety.”
Unfortunately, the students were unable to attend the award ceremony where they secured first place. Still, Byron Goodwin, the director of Travis Hill Schools, made sure to convey the impact they had made. He stated, “My first words to the kids were, like, ‘Y’all are being heard now, not just here but all over the United States. Y’all have just spoken for every kid that’s incarcerated or detained in this United States.”
Goodwin emphasized the significance of the competition, asserting that it offered these students a precious opportunity. He said, “They’ve been told so long that they can’t be educated, they can’t be learned, they’ll never be anything.”
The students themselves acknowledged the transformative power of their participation in the challenge. One student said, “Doing this, it just gave me a voice, and I expressed it. I want to achieve greatness.” Another added, “A lot of people wouldn’t think that we could do something like this, but we actually can. And this is not even the best thing we could do. We can do greater than that.”