This fall, junior athletes Isabel Garcia and Anna Schaninger founded a new club at Southern Lehigh High School. Morgan’s Message is a nonprofit organization that strives to eliminate mental health stigma in the student-athlete community. Garcia and Schaninger are athletes themselves, and co-presidents of the Southern Lehigh chapter.
Morgan’s Message was created after an unfortunate life-changing event. Morgan Dup Rodgers was described as selfless, a good friend, and always positive. She suffered career-ending injuries in her sophomore year of college, putting her into an undiagnosed depression. After she took her own life in 2019, her parents started the organization to provide schools with the guidance, education, and structure to address mental health on school campuses.
“We hope that we can spread Morgan’s actual message about mental health and help our athletes feel safer, be able to talk about how they’re feeling and create a positive
environment,” Garcia said.
The club has already been making an impact. One fundraiser they have already hosted was a bake sale. Garcia explains that the revenue from fundraisers is used for dedication games, t-shirts, and warmups for Southern Lehigh athletes. Garcia emphasizes how popular the club has been among students.
“During club rush we had over 180 sign-ups, but only about a third got in,” she said.
The club advocates for student-athletes in all sports, acknowledging that for many athletes, self-validation comes from their performance. Morgan’s Message encourages students to reach out to their support system if they are struggling and to understand that they are never alone. The club strives to equalize the treatment of mental and physical health.
When the club meets, committee leaders including juniors Avi Shah, Gracelyn Dickinson, and Kenzie Resch create fundraising ideas. They are in charge of advertising, entertainment, and outreach. The rest of the club members all work together in groups on various tasks assigned by the co-presidents.
“I joined because I think that it is very important to get word out about athlete mental health,” said senior Katherine Grum, who plays hockey and tennis.
Morgan wasn’t just an athlete, but also an artist; in fact, the organization’s logo is made of Morgan’s artwork. The wings are her art, and the butterfly’s body is a semicolon. The semicolon represents an affirmation of mental health suicide prevention.
The importance of getting the word out about mental health is crucial for many people. Morgan’s Message at Southern Lehigh strives to eliminate the daily struggles that people go through. With the new club, hopes are that people reach out for help, and realize that no one is going through anything alone.