Students honored at BrainDance Awards

HARTFORD » Six Housatonic Valley Regional High School students were awarded prizes in the Mixed Media category in the Institute of Living’s (IOL’s) BrainDance Awards competition on April 27.

Second place, academic: “The Tides Have Turned” by Mari Cullerton, Brooke Olownia, Kyra Cullerton and Eve Cullerton

Third place, academic: “Call me Crazy” by Katherine McGuire and Katherine Starr

The awards encourage high school students to gain knowledge about psychiatric diseases and develop a more tolerant and realistic perspective toward people with severe psychiatric problems. The competition also aims to promote students’ interest in careers in mental health care.

The projects were judged by expert clinicians and researchers in the field, who determined winners based on creativity, accuracy, scientific rigor and relevance to the issue of mental health stigma. Awards were presented by Godfrey Pearlson, MD, director of the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center at the Institute of Living and Philip Corlett, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University.

Winners joined their teachers, families and classmates for the award ceremony and participated in complementary educational opportunities, including a panel discussion with mental health professionals and a lecture from Dr. Corlett.

Founded in 1822, The Institute of Living was one of the first mental health centers in the United States, and the first hospital of any kind in Connecticut. Located on 35 acres landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted, The Institute of Living lies near the center of Hartford, Connecticut. Becoming a Division of Hartford Hospital in 1994, it remains one of America’s leading not-for-profit centers for comprehensive patient care, research and education in the fields of be-

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO The 2nd Place winners in the Mixed Media category at the 2017 BrainDance Awards at the Institute Of Living, from left are Brooke Olownia, Mari Cullerton, Kyra Cullerton, Eve Cullerton.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO The 3rd Place winners in the Mixed Media category at the 2017 BrainDance Awards at the Institute Of Living are Katherine McGuire, second from left, and Katherine Starr, second from right. They are joined b Dr. Philip Corlett, left, and Dr. Godfrey Pearlson.