Deer Park Students Speak Out On Mental Health, Academic Pressure At LI Forum

DEER PARK, NY — Two Deer Park High School seniors recently joined students from across Long Island for a regional forum focused on issues affecting today’s students.

Aimen Khan and Charles Offiah represented Deer Park at the 2026 Long Island Regional Student Forum, held at St. Joseph’s University in Patchogue. The event brought together students from more than 53 Long Island school districts to discuss key topics impacting their educational experiences.

During the forum, participants engaged in conversations with peers from other districts about four major issues: mental health, academic pressure, school environments and career planning.

“I think it was good to meet with kids from other schools, and see how their schools compare to ours,” Offiah said. “It felt very informative to learn how we could adopt things that they have in their schools that we don’t.”

Khan echoed the sentiment, noting that the discussions provided valuable insight into how schools approach student support and well-being.

“I agree and really enjoyed talking to other students and exploring those differences,” Khan said. “It made it seem like Deer Park is very open to a lot of different things compared to other schools, especially regarding mental health and academic pressure.”

At the conclusion of the event, students presented their ideas and perspectives on the four topics, giving educators and administrators an opportunity to hear directly from students about their experiences and concerns.

“This provided the teachers and staff in attendance a sense of what students’ ideas are, and it really gave us a voice to talk about things we believe should be acknowledged,” Khan said.

Teacher Teresa Greco, who attended the forum with the students, said the experience offered valuable insight from an educator’s perspective.

“From a teacher’s perspective, it was beneficial to hear what students need more of, and what we need to pay more attention to,” Greco said.

The annual forum aims to encourage collaboration and dialogue among students from different school districts, while giving them a platform to share ideas about improving the educational environment.