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 DAVID SONG / Daily AMANDA ALLEN /Daily