Shropshire students express pandemic mental health issues in unique animation workshop
Mental health issues experienced by younger students arising from the pandemic were revealed in a unique animation workshop at a Shropshire college.
A total of 32 Concord College students took part in six hours of workshop practice in which they were able to reflect on personal experiences as well as develop critical social and professional skills.
According to Kat Bant, who delivered the workshop, the result was a true representation of their inner thoughts and emotions experienced during isolation.
“It was certainly an incredible insight for myself into the mental health issues arising from this terrible pandemic – and I’m proud of the students,” she said.
“A nod from one student to another meant that every one of them knew how each other have felt during such a hard time in history.”
A premiere of the animations was hosted in Concord College’s theatre which she described as a ‘real turning point’ for the students in understanding what they could all collaboratively achieve.
Miss Bant, a former freelance illustrator who is now an assistant boarding parent at the college in Acton Burnell, said: “Students were given a creative brief to follow based on the pandemic and mental wellbeing to plan, illustrate and animate a scene of personal emotion.
“The animations produced exceeded anything I thought could be possible in such short sessions.”
Form three student Matei Dumitrascu-Antoniu, 13, said: “The most important skill I learnt from the workshop is how to organise and structure a short piece whilst still listening to everyone’s ideas.
“Because we had to create a one minute piece that expressed all of our feelings, it wasn’t easy to do with different opinions and ideas.
"But we still managed to collaborate and include everything.”