Feature Story Cover Sheet
​Name: Sophie Garza
Article headline: Mental health isn’t pushed to the sideline of Coach Howard’s classroom
Date of submission: Dec. 9
In one sentence, what is the story about?
My story is about an alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin who teaches/coaches high school students, and he is open with his students about the importance of mental health.
Interviewed sources:
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Name of subject source: Grayson Howard
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Source’s email: ghowar1@neisd.net
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Date of your interview: Nov. 18
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How you conducted the interview: I conducted the interview over the phone.
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What was discussed: We discussed his time at UT Austin, his mental health experiences, and his career timeline.
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Which quotes in your story came from the interview? :
“Sometimes I feel like that same kid from high school, waiting for the day to end to head out to the field,” said Howard.
“When I graduated from high school, baseball was my sport, but it quickly felt like a job,” said Howard.
“The point I’m trying to make is that, when I graduated, I wanted nothing to do with baseball, but when I played intramural sports in college it made me fall back in love with the game,” said Howard.
“Playing intramural sports reminded me how important it is to just love playing,” said Howard. “Now, I try to understand that my players just love the game, and I don’t want to be the person who takes that away from them.”
“When I had my first mental breakdown, I had to have a medical withdrawal from UT, and go back home, and go to the hospital,” said Howard.
“Having that mental break in college was probably the best place I could have had it,” said Howard. “Before that, I had always wanted to be a teacher and a coach, but that experience made me want it so much more because I saw how much of an impact I could make on a student’s life.”
“I think talking about these things with students this young is so important,” said Howard. “This is a time in their lives where everything is changing, and that can be really hard in so many different ways for so many different students.”
“I know school is stressful, and some people either thrive under it or break under the pressure,” said Howard. “So it gave me a source of inspiration in regards to talking to my students about their mental health.”
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Name of second source: Alea Jones
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Source’s email: aleajones1025@gmail.com
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Date of your interview: Nov. 20
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How you conducted the interview: I conducted the interview over the phone.
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What was discussed: We discussed her time in Howard’s class and her ideas about the topic of mental health in the classroom.
Which quotes in your story came from the interview? :
“He had become so open about his struggles with mental health that the classroom began to feel like a safe space for me,” said Jones.
“Once he had sort of opened that door for me, I used his class and assignments as a safe haven to relinquish my struggles through my own works of art, just as the authors he had taught us about and, of course, himself had done,” said Jones.
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Name of third source: Chad Vigen
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Source’s email: jackguy12321@gmail.com
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Date of your interview: Dec. 6
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How you conducted the interview: I conducted the interview over the phone.
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What was discussed: We discussed his experience in Coach Howard’s class.
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Which quotes in your story came from the interview? :
“Coach Howard’s class always felt comfortable,” said Vigen. “The door was always open, and most days we didn’t even leave for lunch.”
“I never thought my favorite part of high school would be eating lunch with my teacher, but it genuinely made me happy at the time,” said Vigen. “Part of me feels like I took it for granted in a way, like after you graduate, you realize that no one is really looking after you.”
Secondary sources included in the story:
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health