Thanks to JD Curtis and some of his fellow students at Dow High School, people in Midland will have a chance to play different problem-solving games to improve their critical thinking skills and to manage stress.
Eight stations with games will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, August 7 in Downtown Midland, during the weekly Adult Recess time.
The event is organized by Dow High's Problem Solution Club. At the end of last school year, more than 20 students formed the club to teach skills to deal with adversity, said Curtis, the co-president of the club and a Dow High junior.
“We have seen struggles with difficult problems that have been around the world, and we just want to try to make a difference,” he said.
James Anderson, the other co-president, said he and Curtis “have really been wanting to start a club” for about a year and are hoping to grow it quickly.
Some of the issues they have seen are adults dealing with money problems, inflation and work/life balance; and kids being overwhelmed with homework, Curtis said.
According to American Psychiatric Association data from 2024, 43% of adults feel more anxious than last year. The majority of them, 77%, are stressed about the economy.
Personally, Curtis said, he struggles with pressure from sports teams and classes.
“It’s just the mentality of, 'I have a lot of homework and I have a lot of studying to do, (but) how do I manage my time?'” Curtis said. “And being able to do that during stress is a hard thing.”
Anderson agreed.
“We had seen all this adversity and we just wanted to help fix that,” Anderson said. “There’s a lot of pressure on athletes to get all of their stuff, making sure they get all their schoolwork done, getting all their work in for their sport and having a good social status, and (we’re) just helping them fix that.”
Curtis said he is seeing more stress today than ever because of social media and the COVID-19 pandemic. He said it is hard to manage time and use of social media and said the pandemic resulted in students wanting to always stay inside isolated.
According to American Psychological Association most recent data from 2023, more than a half of younger adults ages 18 to 35 report being stressed. Their stressors are usually money, economy and housing costs. Stress levels today are also higher than pre-pandemic.
But Curtis said the solution is within the person’s mindset and it is important to have a happier lifestyle, which sometimes might mean setting aside time for what is important and getting rid of things that aren’t.
“Mental happiness is something that is very unrecognized,” Curtis said. “I’ve noticed ... a lot of my friends stop when things get hard. ... The community could also benefit from ... if everyone has a winning mindset and wants to go out and get things done and go improve and is okay with failing.”
That is what Dow High’s Problem Solution Club wants to teach people in their event this August.
Curtis said people of any age are welcome and the event is free. He said the club has also worked with Downtown Midland to coordinate the event.
Curtis said some of the games include building the tallest tower out of pretzel sticks and marshmallows, a card memory game, and tic-tac-toe with cornhole bags.
Anderson said his favorite game at the event is the car slide puzzle game, where players have to solve how to get a car out of a jammed parking lot.
“I think it would be a great opportunity to get everyone involved in the community and enjoy a good time,” Curtis said.
