Tucked quietly away into the overwhelming noise at DGN is a group few students ever stop to notice. The 99 Reasons program doesn’t try to attract attention by raising its voice, but by being a presence in the school community. Yet behind closed doors, its members are working toward an underappreciated purpose.
Students see the 99 Reasons’ posters in the hall but don’t pay much attention. The posters address themes of mental health and substance abuse. However, this is not the program’s primary purpose.
“Our main goal is engagement,” DGN social worker Keith Bullock said. “To find a way to reach as many students as possible with only one teacher in the building doing it.”
Any kind of engagement the program creates is considered a success and a job well done. A student defaced one of the posters in a negative manner to promote the use of tobacco, and Bullock saw this as a win.
“It means they’re paying attention,” Bullock said. “That they, one, saw it, and it’s fine they disagree with it. And then they also went to the degree that they wanted to say something back.”
The program has been seeing more and more engagement from students through email. 99 Reasons sends quizzes and surveys to students, and if a student notices it and decides to do it, it provides great feedback for the members. Students have also begun to have meetings during student choice access on block days and have become the student representatives for the program. Bullock and the program also try to incorporate the students’ voices from these online surveys and quizzes.
“During Covid, we had some focus groups with students,” Bullock said. “That’s where the students at that time came up with the idea of the reasons why students choose to not use substances. What are the reasons why students choose exercise over weed? What is it that helps students prioritize their mental health? That kind of thing.”
The 99 Reasons program also puts a focus on mental health within their targeted engagement from students. They create a lot of posters to promote awareness about people struggling. As well, during certain weeks, the student representatives do even more to ensure that everyone is seen and happy.
“I am also involved in projects, such as during finals week, writing all the post-it notes for the front of the College and Career Center to brighten people’s day,” junior student rep. Alena Mossman said.
People overlook the importance of the program. The program tries to demonstrate to others that they are not alone. However, people frequently underestimate the group’s involvement in the school community.
“I do feel overlooked,” Mossman said. “Not many people know it’s a club that is easy to join, or what we even do besides make the posters in classrooms.”
99 Reasons is sure that their message is getting out to students. They have seen increases in student engagement, and they believe that more students are noticing their posters.
“Even before I joined, I would always notice the posters around school, especially while I was bored in class,” junior student rep. Emma Sondgeroth said. “So I guarantee I’m not the only one that has seen and appreciated the group’s work.”
99 Reasons is still trying to become a bigger identity at the school. They aspire to grow the student population of the club and help more students feel seen. They wish to continue making a bigger and bigger impact among the student body.
“Yes, our group’s work has definitely made a difference among the students at DGN,” Sondgeroth said. “But moving forward, I hope more students choose to join 99 Reasons so we can make an even bigger impact on our school community.”
The influence of 99 Reasons is already a part of daily life at DGN. Through intentional efforts, the program continues to support students in ways that may go unnoticed. As it looks to grow, 99 Reasons hopes to grow and reach even more students while reminding them they aren’t alone.