When I founded an organization at 15.

The end of 2021 will mark five years of engaging in mental health-related work. Five years is crazy to me; I started my work when I was 15, and I’ll be turning 20 in December. While so much has happened in the past five years, if anything remained constant it would be how much I value “reflection”. Looking back on where you were in the past is such a beautiful thing. And sometimes it sucks, I think back to good moments and the bittersweet feeling of nostalgia sits within me. And sometimes reflection is amazing. I think back to the bad moments and hardship, smiling at overcoming them.

Then there are moments in life that force you to reflect. The pandemic was one of those moments for all of us. Graduating high school, or watching my brother getting married all in the same year takes my breath away. And maybe this is the fallout of “growing up”, but part of reflection is following the story of whoever you are. I truly believe if you do not reflect once in a while, you begin to lose track of who you are. In a sense, if you do not reflect, you’re self-sabotaging your own story.

Even though I am only 19, it seems as if I am already losing memories of all the moments that led up to where I am today. So, for the sake of myself and you too, let’s reflect.

For starters, my name is Seika Brown, I’m a 19-year-old rising sophomore in university, coming from a town about 25 minutes out from Seattle, Washington. As I have mentioned, my work started back when I was 15 in my sophomore psychology class. It began when my teacher assigned us our final project, which was to find an issue in the school and present a solution to the administration. 

I saw the project as a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness for an issue that existed in all of us, even if it is stigmatized. After my psych teacher gave us the green light for the project, two of my friends and I began some research.

The “research” fell into two categories; one being online and the other being “field” research where we sent out a survey to students in our school. After we collected both categories of research, we analyzed the problem as “increasing anxiety and stress rates in schools”. We decided that the solution would be to create a resource club in school for students to utilize. After the presentation, the administration told me it was a “great idea, but we are not having a resource club”.

They said no to me right off the bat. It was a huge letdown. I thought coming into the presentation that it was the most organized, well-prepped, and convincing story that had to have them shaking my hand at the end, which didn’t happen.

 At least I got an A.

And when I say, “I at least got an A”, I mean that with zero ounces of sarcasm. My sophomore year of high school was the worst year for me academically. All of high school for me was a failure in the term of academics. I failed two classes, had one too many D’s, and not the hottest scores all around. Getting an A on that presentation was a pretty good outcome for me, now that I am looking back. But my 15-year-old self couldn’t care less about grades and was beyond stubborn.

It was my stubbornness that I had at 15 which started the work I have built in the past five years. I recall telling my friend about my disappointment. He jokingly told me afterward that I should take it up to the superintendent because they “can’t say no to their boss”.

And I did exactly that.

I grabbed a few of my friends in school, sat them down, and said we will go to our superintendent and get our club passed. And while they were hyped alongside me, my friend Yennie was more logical than the rest of us. She proposed the good question of “how are we going to do that.”

I realized I needed some guidance, after looking online, I found the Youth Activism Project; an organization that assists young people to pursue campaigns on problems that they care about. I sent in my application, and a few weeks later I got accepted. They assigned me with a mentor who encouraged me to reach out to professionals in the field to get input on my club proposal.

I emailed legislatures, senators, officers, and non-profits in Washington State asking for their thoughts and advice. I was lucky to get a few responses. One stood out, State Legislature Tina Orwall emailed me back proposing to meet in person to talk. I emailed back right away and then that weekend I was sitting in a Starbucks with a state legislature.

What was a want for a high school club propelled from there. We sat in the Starbucks for hours, talking about mental health, my club idea, and then she mentioned a bill that was in the works. Orwall asked if my team and I wanted to take part in a suicide prevention bill – I clearly said yes.

That is where I started my junior year of high school. That year my friends and I founded our youth organization “Archnova”; two Latin and Greek roots combined meaning New Beginnings. We felt as if we were creating a new beginning, a bunch of 15- and 16-year-old kids working on a bill. We testified and assisted with research for a few months.

Only to be met with disappointment when we received news that the budgeting and funding for the services that the bill would have provided were beyond expensive and non-negotiable. Therefore, the bill was halted in committee. While it was disheartening, I was still determined in doing the thing that started all of this work: get a mental health resource club in my school.

After months of work that built up testimonies for my club proposal and credibility as a presenter, I scheduled a meeting with my superintendent. My co-lead at the time and I created a presentation, went to his office, and presented our pitch.

And this time, we were met with hesitancy. While I was not given a no, I wasn’t given a yes.

They said they would try and collaborate with youth, but no promise of doing anything.

I left his office with the words of my friend who spoke to me after my psychology presentation: “they can’t say no to their boss”.

Stubborn as ever, I followed that advice again. Archnova was invited to work on another bill. This bill focused on providing a student well-being advisory committee; where districts had to create opportunities for students to provide input around needed areas of support in schools.

This bill did get passed. 

And it was a great feeling knowing we didn’t stop at the first, second, or even third no. While it wasn’t the same ask I had when I was 15 in my psychology class, this committee allows other students to go straight to people in their district, rather than doing the months of waiting for a response that I had to do.

It wasn’t a “resource hub”, or a program that added funding for mental health resources, but it was a foundation for student and administration collaboration. And that was even better than what I could have hoped for.

All of this happened in one year, and as my senior year approached, “college” weighed over my head. This is where I refer to being a terrible student. Even though I was doing all this work, I was doing terribly in school; hardly maintaining a passing grade.

I wanted to go to college, my brother who is my best friend, also struggled in high school. He did not walk at his graduation. He is someone who sacrificed so much for my success. And I wanted to go to college for him. I was willing to go anywhere, aiming for small schools.

It wasn’t until I had dinner with my brother, his wife, and her parents where her dad asked me where I was applying to. I told him my small list of four universities. He told me that I shouldn’t “leave any money on the table”, and realize that my work outside of school is more valuable than any GPA or SAT score could be.

He told me to look into Cornell, Brown, and Rice, and that night once I got home, I decided to apply to Cornell. A month and a half later, I was accepted into Cornell University with early decision.

Then the question of “what are you going to do with Archnova” arose. Those that I worked with questioned the future of my work, and I did too. It felt unfair to force my friends to work into college; I couldn’t promise a salary or a plan.

At the end of 2019 when I turned 18, I decided I would not continue Archnova into college. We spent the rest of our senior year – into covid, creating an activism toolkit with the help of the global organization citiesRISE. The toolkit provided a detailed six-step plan of how to create an activism campaign like Archnova’s.

In June of 2020, I graduated high school and spent the summer quarantined doing virtual events with citiesRISE. Last August I flew to New York for the first time to begin my first semester of university at Cornell. In October I attended a virtual event with the ex-chief of health at UNICEF; Stefan Peterson to talk about mental health on world mental health day. That event inspired the newly founded “YLG Research”.

YLG or “Youth Lead Globally”, aims to discover how mental health is defined across cultures. Being half Japanese and half English, my parents define mental health differently based on their own experience in where they grew up. Neither definition is wrong or right, it just is. With YLG, I am not aiming to find the “true definition”, I am not aiming to find a problem or a solution, the point of YLG is to have a conversation. Through ethnographic research, we aim to listen, not to “help”.

And that is where I am at today. I’ve grown some patience and became less stubborn. I can safely say I am still dedicated as ever, but with a calm mind. I am grateful to those adults and organizations that were willing to listen to me at a young age. I hope to provide the same ears that many provided me in my work. Currently, I am in the works of having YLG be funded and sponsored! And things are looking well!

Though, I want to clarify that the story I just told is not a story of me, or who I am. It is a story of what I have done, and what I hope to continue to do. My work is not me, rather a product of who I am.

I have experienced my struggles. Before my organization and work, I struggled at home. I witnessed my brother, and my parents struggle with mental illness and substance abuse. I was eight when my brother attempted suicide. But by God’s will, between eight and eighteen I was able to do amazing things, and experience amazing hardships. In the years of Archnova, I faced challenges that I never thought I would face. 

But those stories, are stories for another time.

As I said, it has been almost five years since the start of my work. There have been countless moments, events, and memories that fit between those five years. These are the stories I hope to share with you. In this blog, I will be sharing those moments, lessons, and memories with you! And if you, the reader have any questions, areas of needed clarifications, or just curious to learn more about me, email me at seikabrown16@gmail.com, and I’ll happily answer those questions in the newsletter, or privately. If you would like to collaborate in any way, email me, or schedule an appointment through my website at seikabrown.com.

Thank you for listening, and if you want someone to listen to, reach out to me and we can share your story at YLG, anyone is welcome :)

Seika Brown