(L-R) Miramonte student Sienna Keene with Dr. Lisa Damour and Miramonte Challenge Success team member Stacy Crinks, at the Challenge Success winter fundraiser luncheon.
The Challenge Success Team (CST) program is a student stress analytic program established by Stanford University in 2007. It supports student well-being by surveying students’ stressors to gain awareness and understanding so they can be productively addressed. Based on the program’s successful outcomes, it has since expanded to more than 700 U.S. schools.
Miramonte High School launched CST in 2022 to meet the increase in student stress and anxiety.
Ben Campopiano, Miramonte principal and CST director, wanted to make a difference by taking advantage of the CST program’s known success.
“One of my main goals as principal is to support student and staff wellness, so this has been a top priority for me and my administration team since I started at Miramonte,” he said.
Senior Sienna Keene is a student lead in the program. She has participated in coaching sessions, attended conferences, panels, monthly CST meetings and studied students’ viewpoints on various approaches to tackling student mental health issues.
She feels CST is vitally important for Miramonte students.
“Far too many students are struggling with well-being, belonging and engagement in high school,” said Keene. “As societal expectations of teenagers heighten, students claim to be sleep-deprived, show physical symptoms of stress and struggle with a sense of belonging in their high school careers. In times like these, elevating student voices and making positive changes is necessary to a student’s mental and physical health.”
Both Campopiano and Keene are optimistic in looking ahead to the future, by comparing Miramonte’s survey results with nationwide data. This will better position the school to pinpoint trends and unique issues, examine them and then employ research-based and wellness-focused strategies to make positive changes.
Campopiano’s intent is to ensure diverse perspectives feel recognized. He works with a group of diverse staff, teachers and parents to establish big objectives.
“Our Challenge Success Team is working on various goals we want to achieve this year, but generally speaking, our goal is to decrease the stress and anxiety our students feel from school and academic pressures,” said Campopiano. “We are looking at a variety of different ways to achieve this goal and, just like last year, [we] will roll out different initiatives to take action.”
He went on to talk about how, by empowering students to actively contribute to their well-being, they will help make sure that their surveys are tailored to their unique needs, concerns and experiences.
“Although it is difficult to determine how much our work is helping or positively impacting our students, we are hearing that students, staff and parents are greatly benefiting from the work,” said Campopiano.
Ultimately, by working on projects like daily wellness exercises in classrooms, and hosting panel discussions and Q&As, CST looks forward to opportunities to create tangible change for the Miramonte student community.