Wednesday, April 13, 2016 // The Statement
15B
Despite sitting in Starbucks on a rainy April
afternoon, LSA junior Yumi Taguchi sported a
warm smile. This, combined with her big eyes
and sympathetic tone of voice hinted at why
she might be such a comfort to students with
mental health difficulties on campus.
Saying Taguchi is a mental health activist at
the University of Michigan would be putting
it mildly. She is involved in four different men-
tal health-related extracurriculars — Active
Minds, the Wolverine Support Network, the
Counseling and Psychological Services Stu-
dent Advisory Board and the Depression on
College Campuses Planning Committee.
Taguchi is most heavily involved in the Uni-
versity’s chapter of Active Minds, a club she
helped found in 2014 and will be co-director
of in the 2016-2017 school year. Taguchi said
when she came to the University, there were
very few mental health organizations com-
pared to now.
“The interest in mental health maintenance
has risen so much,” she said. “There are so
many more mental health organizations on
campus now. We’re really proud that we get to
be a part of that.”
Active Mind’s goal is to destigmatize men-
tal health problems on campus by providing
forums where students are encouraged to
share their stories, as well as by hosting edu-
cational events.
One such event was Send Silence Packing.
Last September, students walking to class
could hardly help but notice the 1,100 back-
packs scattered across the Diag, which were
meant to represent the number of students
who commit suicide every year in the United
States. Taguchi co-planned this event along
with LSA junior Alexandria Kolenda.
“The feedback we get from people who
understand that mental health is something
that is really important to take care of has been
tremendous,” Taguchi said.
Sharing stories is something Taguchi cited
multiple times as an important gateway to
decreasing the stigma around mental health
so common on college campuses.
“Through story sharing, you get an idea that
this is not a problem that one specific group
might have,” she said. “Everyone has feelings;
everybody doesn’t feel well sometimes.”
Taguchi has experienced mental health
issues both personally and peripherally. Her
two sisters suffered from depression as she
was growing up, and she suffered from an eat-
ing disorder during high school. Taguchi said
she often shares her story at different events,
including the Mental Health Monologues,
where she performed last year.
“One of the most important things I’ve
learned is for people to be able to open up to
you, you have to be willing to open up to them,”
Taguchi said.
As a student adviser for CAPS, Taguchi also
has an opportunity to see the more adminis-
trative approach to students’ mental health
difficulties on campus. She acts as a liaison
between students and CAPS, and she said the
role has been eye opening.
“Through active minds you hear a lot of
things about CAPS — people aren’t as happy
with CAPS,” Taguchi said. “Now that I’m on the
CAPS SAB I have more of an appreciation for
what CAPS does. I realize what the hurdles are
for CAPS to be able to provide more services.”
These hurdles, Taguchi said, include both
funding and a lack of available staff members
to accommodate the high student demand.
“There’s not enough people to actually be
able to provide these services,” she said. “And
people cost money.”
With the WSN, Taguchi contributes to
the creation of weekly safe spaces where
students can share their troubles. As for her
involvement in the Depression on College
Campuses conference, she said she helps
recruit different types of mental health
professionals from across the nation to come
and speak on campus.
Through her participation in so many
mental health organizations, Taguchi has one
overarching goal: she wants students to feel
comfortable.
“Making sure people feel comfortable in
their own skin, where they are currently, and
they’re able to make the best out of their every
day because they feel comfortable,” Taguchi
said. “That was one of the things that really
attracted me to an organization like Active
Minds.”
YUMI TAGUCHI
As diversity committee affairs vice chair in
LSA Student Government and co-founder of
Books for a Benefit, Public Policy sophomore
Nadine Jawad has been at the forefront of
working to address important societal issues
for awhile, especially when it comes to lit-
eracy.
When asked about how she spent her Sat-
urday night, Jawad admitted she stayed up
a little too late — later than she should be —
reading classics.
“I recently bought 10 new classics because
I love Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway,”
she said. “They’re taunting me because I’m
sitting there doing my homework and they’re
sitting there and I want to read them so
badly.”
In just two years at the University, Jawad
has transformed her love of literature into
founding BFB — a student organization dedi-
cated to promoting education and literacy in
at-risk and low socio-economic status com-
munities. Now with five chapters at differ-
ent colleges in Michigan, BFB has expanded
to provide tutoring services and a pen pals
program with Syrian refugees to help them
improve their English. BFB also coordinates
outreach trips a few times per semester to
Detroit public schools, where its volunteers
bring books and backpacks and work with
students to prepare them for high school and
college.
BFB began as a book club where college
students could interact with students in the
Ann Arbor community, but it has grown into
something much more.
“We want students to realize how impor-
tant school, education and reading is,” Jawad
said.
Though her family was not well-off, as a
young child, Jawad said she was fortunate to
have parents who took the time to read to her
and take her to get books and go to the library.
Thinking back on the support she received
from her family, Jawad recalled the count-
less times she would wake her mom up at
midnight frantically asking her what a word
meant so she could continue to read. Read-
ing became a way for her to overcome hard-
ships she faced in her childhood, and she said
she wants to provide that opportunity for as
many children as she can.
That said, though BFB hopes to start a Flint
chapter, its goal is not infinite expansion.
“We want to make sure that this isn’t a
thing where people are trying to build their
resumes or do it for the wrong reasons,”
Jawad said. “We want to leave a long-lasting
impact on the communities. We really value
quality over quantity.”
When describing BFB, Jawad speaks in
terms of we want, what we value, underscor-
ing her understanding of the organization
as a collaborative effort. Despite being a co-
founder — the concept of BFB was her idea —
when talking about the organization, Jawad
consistently emphasizes that it hasn’t been
just her. The board of BFB in particular has
been a driving force in the organization’s suc-
cess and expansion, she said.
“What is most rewarding is not only see-
ing the impact on students we serve but also
on the volunteer side, seeing people who are
equally — if not more — passionate about the
cause than I am.”
Despite the largely rewarding experiences
she’s had through BFB, Jawad is still ground-
ed in reality, asking herself hard questions.
“Issues are so systemic. When you’re at a
school, you ask, ‘are you really doing anything
for these kids? Books, backpacks, do they
make a difference?’ ” she said. “Giving them
a book isn’t going to change the fact that they
are poor, or the fact that their mom’s single or
the fact that no one pays taxes and they’re so
poor, so their education system sucks.”
Jawad believes that enacting change it is
not only about tapping into what you are pas-
sionate about, but also realizing what the root
cause of the problem is.
“People on this campus are so social justice-
oriented,” she said. “But it’s not just about doing
what you’re interested in, it’s also realizing the
root causes of these issues, and poor education
is a root cause of many issues, whether they
concern medicine, law or policy.”
NADINE JAWAD
B Y A M A B E L K A R O U B ,
D A I LY S TA F F
R E P O R T E R
B Y A N N A P O L U M B O - L E V Y,
S E N I O R E D I T O R I A L PA G E
E D I T O R
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