This U-E grad's Gold Award project is helping teens cope at her alma mater

Hailee Johnson of Endicott knows what it’s like to navigate the deadlines, pressures and stresses of high school.

That’s why she developed a butterfly corner to help other students deal with stress, anxiety and other mental health issues at her alma mater: Union Endicott High School.

“There’s something there that can help them ease their mind and help them get back to whatever they were doing,” she said of other students. “They can go home at the end of the day, and they will be less stressed.”

Johnson created the butterfly corner as a service project that enabled her to earn the Girl Scout Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouts. She was one of 16 Girl Scouts to earn the award last year as part of the Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways, which includes two counties in Pennsylvania and 24 counties in New York, Broome County among them.

Now a college freshman at Mansfield University, Johnson joined the Girl Scouts in kindergarten and continued until she graduated from Union-Endicott High School last June. She was a member of Girl Scout Troop 60654 of Endicott.

“Once you have given it a shot and stuck with it, you start to learn new things and gain new skills,” she said of scouting. “You just fall in love with it.”

Being a Girl Scout has helped her to gain and develop new skills, she said.

“I’ve learned very valuable leadership skills,” she said. “I’ve definitely learned a lot of public speaking skills.”

She put those skills to work while earning her Gold Award. She wanted to create a project that would help other students since high school can be a difficult time, she said.

"I’ve always lived by the saying, 'If you want change, you have to make that change,'" she said. "That was my goal. I wanted to make an impact."

Her project consisted of creating a space to support students who were struggling. It includes motivational stickers and cards, coloring books, fidget toys and business cards for local mental health resources including the suicide hotline. Everything is on a cart that counselors can wheel around the school to help students. The cart is kept in the guidance counselor’s office, she said.

“I like to call it the butterfly project,” Johnson said. “The butterflies symbolize moving on. It’s giving the student the aid that they need for the future when they are truthfully able and ready to move on from the past.”

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Her goal is to get the butterfly project in every high school in the county, she said.

Johnson said she still has friends who attend Union-Endicott High School who have told her that students are using her project and benefiting from it, she said.

Her experiences helped her to choose psychology as a college major, she said.

“I saw how this helped so many people,” she said. “I want to be there to help people.”

Johnson said she hopes other girls will follow in her footsteps and join Girl Scouts.

“I 100 percent recommend it,” she said. “It’s really opened up so many doors for me.”

More about Hailee Johnson

Home and Hometown: Endicott

Family: Parents, Katie Vrooman and Chad Johnson; one older half brother and one younger half sister.

Education: Freshman at Mansfield University majoring in psychology

Future Career: Would like to pursue a career in the psychology field

For more information: gsnypenn.org/en/get-involved/join.html

This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Endicott Girl Scout's project helps high school students cope