In the Portuguese novel “The Alchemist,” a boy named Santiago, while on a quest to find lost treasure, meets a powerful alchemist who guides him on his personal journey. Meanwhile, in the Wellness Center, Palo Alto High School English teacher Bekki Casalco helps students create their own personal journey.
“We’re having them [students] identify people that are mentors or a support system in their lives, just like a hero,” Casalco said. “At the end of the activity, they have created a hero’s journey of their own: what their end goal is, who they hope to become, what tools they are using when times get hard, and who are they seeking guidance or support from?”
This year, Casalco is pioneering a different approach for her freshman English class by connecting social and emotional issues from the books they read, like “The Alchemist,” to real life scenarios.
Casalco collaborates with the Wellness Center in planning lessons to create meaningful and relatable experiences for her students.
“Although some stories can be in a different time period, the situations they face when they are transitioning from childhood to adulthood are all familiar and real,” Casalco said. “In one activity, we gave [students] a list of what the mental health resources were, and they got to choose which resource applied to each hypothetical situation.”
During the 2024-2025 school year, 83% of public schools in the United States offered individual-based mental health intervention, such as one-on-one counseling, according to the U.S. Department of Education. However, since coming to Paly at the beginning of the semester, Casalco noticed a lack of students taking advantage of mental health resources, prompting her to take matters into her own hands.
“[Not many] students actually go to the [Wellness] Center after orientation,” Casalco said. “So if we were working toward removing the stigma of wellness, then we must use the opportunity to connect students with our content and the resources on campus.”
Casalco experienced firsthand how the lack of mental wellness can affect someone when her close friend from high school was pulled from the public school system due to mental illness.
“After we graduated, she died by suicide, and it was super, super impactful,” Casalco said. “So for the rest of my life, I want to make sure that nobody sees that as an exit or as something they need to do. If I can play a role in helping students decrease stigma, or help students understand that it’s okay to not be okay, then for me, that’s a win.”
Casalco’s time as a student at San Jose State University also inspired her to combine mental health issues with the traditional English curriculum.
“They [SJSU professors] challenged you to be different,” Casalco said. “They challenged you to create your own way of viewing things and teaching things.”
Casalco said that this open-minded way of thinking led her to become more flexible and creative with her lessons.
“When I was doing my master’s program, I noted how our professors pushed us to be creative in our lesson plans and help students make connections to everyday life and the campus body,” Casalco said. “In my research, I was really lucky to be partnered with a mentor who also saw the vision and not only believed in it, but practiced it.”
Through her efforts, Casalco hopes that more students will use the Wellness Center’s resources on a regular basis.
“I find the Wellness Center to be the heart of campus well-being,” Casalco said. “The more vibrant and alive the center is, the more students understand how to seek support and how to use it to become stronger academically, socially-emotionally and cognitively.”
With their first lesson at the Wellness Center on Oct. 9, Casalco’s students immediately had a positive outlook on her new teaching approach.
“I really liked it because I don’t go over to that area a lot, so I thought it was a good idea to get to know all the resources at the Wellness Center,” said freshman Claire Kim, one of Casalco’s students. “Now that I know what goes on there, I think I’ll use [the Wellness Center] more often.”
Freshman Lucas Chen also had a deep appreciation for the lesson, and said that the Wellness Center is a valuable resource at Paly.
“It opened my eyes to what the Wellness Center has to offer,” Chen said. “If I ever feel down, I would definitely go.”
Casalco also saw signs that her methods were well-received by her students.
“They were asking questions to each therapist, and they were very curious about what each part of the center looked like,” Casalco said. “And I think that’s already a very significant response because it’s not every day do you get the opportunity to ask those questions.”
Integrating an innovative teaching style does not come without challenges, however. Casalco said presenting themes that could potentially go against her students’ beliefs and values can make it difficult to form relevant and meaningful connections with students.
“Every student is faced with different situations in their life and different upbringings,” Casalco said. “And I think the challenge is going up against what they may view wellness to be, whether it’s okay or not to reach out for help, and letting them know that it’s okay to do so.”
Casalco said she navigates such obstacles by encouraging a safe and supportive environment where students can ask questions.
“They say their opinions, they say their points of view while understanding that we’re all respecting each other, and so the discussions are more of a dialogue,” Casalco said. “At first it seemed like they were going against something that they viewed as normal. Now, not only do they do their work and stay on task, but they’re even open to questioning, asking, ‘But why?’”
Casalco hopes that her innovation serves as an inspiration for other educators to teach the next generation about mental health resources and how to navigate their lives.
“I hope that as I improve my teaching methods, the resources continue to grow and the partnerships continue to grow,” Casalco said. “This can even be translated over to the Social Justice Pathway, for example. It’ll be fun to see how this can actually become a study or even spread to other school districts, and to give exposure to the whole student population.”
Casalco says that learning about wellness can extend far beyond the English classroom and prepare her students for success after high school.
“My students aren’t just my students, they are part of a community,” Casalco said. “Whatever windows, doors and mirrors we hold up in our teaching, they will carry those experiences everywhere.”
