WAVERLY, Mich. — Winans Elementary School in Waverly celebrated the opening of a new calming room on Friday, dedicated to the memory of former MSU football player Gregory H. Montgomery Jr.
- The calming room provides students with a space to decompress when feeling overwhelmed.
- The room was funded by the Gregory H. Montgomery Jr. Foundation.
- Montgomery's family hopes to build more calming rooms to support youth mental health.
The new space at Winans Elementary School is helping students manage their emotions during difficult school days.
WATCH: Waverly school honors former MSU football player with new mental health resource
"This is a space that you can go to when you're not feeling good at school," said Winans Elementary Assistant Principal Kysha Crenshaw.
The school held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday to celebrate the new calming room, which was made possible through a donation from the Gregory H. Montgomery Jr. Foundation.
Crenshaw explained how the room has already proven valuable in the short time since school began.
"We have kindergartners this year and so a lot of times they missed their mom and dad and so this is a space for them to come get their mind off of school play a little bit because we know kids need to play and just get that off of their mind," Crenshaw said.
Students participated in the ribbon-cutting celebration for the new space.
The room honors Gregory H. Montgomery Jr., a former MSU football player and two-time All-American who died by suicide in 2020.
"It really means the world to me because it will carry on Greg's spirit of kindness and acceptance," said Margot Montgomery-Moran.
Since his death, Montgomery's sister Margot and father Greg Montgomery Sr. have made it their mission to honor his legacy through mental health initiatives.
"We actually have a little motto that he lives through lives saved," Montgomery Sr. said.
This marks the second calming room the Montgomery family has established, with plans to create more in the future.
"A big reason why we started these calming rooms donating the funds for calming rooms is to give the kids at the earliest of ages tools in their toolbox, so that even the latest stages in life that they can reflect back to maybe what they've learned when they use the calming room," Montgomery-Moran said.
For Winans Elementary, the new space has already become an essential resource.
"I have no words, I mean the space is beautiful. We've been using it since day one. This is our seventh day of school so the need is definitely real and we're very excited that they offered this to us," Crenshaw said.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can dial 988, which is the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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