Everything You Missed at Annenberg’s First Ever Kind Festival
by Tamanna Sood ‘24
On Thursday, September 14, Annenberg held its first ever Kind Fest. The event was dedicated to promoting mental health initiatives on campus and at Annenberg. The festival’s aim was to get students to be intentionally kind, not only to their peers, but to themselves.
One of the main goals of the event was to highlight the Kaleigh Finnie Memorial Endowment Fund. This scholarship and award program is Annenberg specific, for both graduate and undergraduate students. Students who receive funding from the project will work to either further research or start conversations around mental health in Kaleigh Finnie’s memory. If you are an Anneberg student interested in the scholarship, the deadline to apply is on Sept. 29th.
Current Kaleigh Finnie Scholars started off the event by discussing their own journey with mental health and their specific projects. Through the event, I learned about Annenberg student and Finnie scholar Saphia Zaman and the Happy Hour Club. Zaman created the Happy Hour Club to close the gap between mental health resources and the student body at USC. The club is dedicated to “making mental health a priority ” and focuses on improving the mental health and well-being of USC students. The club is open to all and has bi-weekly hour-long meetings.
Sam Stack, founder and president of the Men’s Mental Health Initiative at USC, shared that he created the club last semester as a way to make a safe space for men to feel comfortable speaking about their mental health issues without facing stigma. The club is the first of its kind at USC and meets weekly. Anyone is welcome to come speak about their experiences.
The event also highlighted alumni projects sponsored through the Finnie Endowment Fund. Ella Katz, a graduate of the journalism program, spoke about her experience at USC and how the scholarship allowed her to create a segment at ATVN called “Ellavate” that highlighted mental health and advocated for student well-being.
The main speaker at the event was Kayla Bergholz of Rachel’s Challenge. Rachel’s Challenge is an organization that highlights the message of Rachel Joy Scott, the first student killed in the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Rachel Joy Scott was an imaginative, kind, and respectful teenager who always advocated to treat others with kindness. Rachel’s Challenge “envisions schools full of hope, free from harassment, violence, and self-harm.” Rachel’s Challenge asks listeners to follow Rachel’s example and keep five tenets in their daily life: looking for the best in others, speaking with kindness, choosing positive influences, dreaming big, and starting a chain reaction. .
Once the speakers concluded in the Annenberg Forum in Wallis Hall, everyone made their way to the School of Communication for some snacks and activities. Free pizza, snowcones, soda, candy, and activities were offered as attendees got to know each other. My friend Sydni and I went to the event together and had a really great time learning about so many organizations we didn’t know existed.
I didn’t expect the event to be so engaging and organized as it was the first year, but it’s clear that the organizers were extremely intentional in putting the event together. The event showcased just how many resources this campus has for students struggling with their mental health or having a difficult time at school from clubs to campus funded resources.
Mental Health Resources at USC:
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