Rockets Hope to Spread ‘Morgan’s Message’
October 16, 2026
• Needham High School’s SALT spearheaded the initiative at five games this week.
Student-athletes from Needham High School’s Student Athlete Leadership Team (SALT) are reaching out to the community to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health. They are partnering with Morgan’s Message, a national nonprofit organization, to spread that message at varsity games through the weekend, beginning at the Rockets field hockey game against Walpole on Wednesday, Oct. 14.
Three of those student-athletes shared why this cause is so important prior to that game.
“I feel like nobody really talks about the struggle of balancing your athletic work with your academic work,” junior Lindsey Goldfine said. “You can get home by 8 or 9 p.m. and still have so much homework, and no one talks about the real struggle of that. If we can just bring awareness to just value yourself as a person more than yourself as an athlete, I think that’s so important, and I hope we can reach out to so many people and just tell them that they’re so important.”
“We want people to know that no matter what you’re going through, big or small, it’s O.K. to talk about and any time, any place, we’re always there to help and everyone should be able to talk about mental health,” junior Paige Moyer added. “Obviously, we want to be able to eliminate the stigma, which is a big thing where people are scared to talk about their mental health, but we want to tell everyone and spread the message that it’s O.K.”
Morgan’s Message was founded by the family of Morgan Rodgers, a Duke lacrosse player who died by suicide.
“The Morgan’s Message team has been so impactful to us and so helpful to us in every way,” Goldfine said. “Anything that we needed they were always there for us. I think that was a huge part of bringing this to the high school, because we always knew we had the support of not only us as friends helping each other, but also them as an organization.”
“We have wristbands and ribbons, we’re wearing shirts to spread the message of the organization,” Moyer said.
“It’s so important to us to wear the wristbands,” Goldfine added. “If you’re walking in town, someone can say, ‘Oh, what’s that organization?’ Then maybe go home and look it up and then they’ll become more aware, therefore other people will become more aware. So it’s really showing everyone that it matters and that they’re important and it really can make a difference if you can wear the merch and you can spread the message. The most important thing is the support, really.”
In addition to the field hockey game, the students also had an information table set up on Thursday at Needham girls volleyball against Walpole, with another way to show their support.
“We have this poster board, it’s called Take a Note, Leave a Note,” Goldfine said. “If we can have people leave supportive comments and communicate to athletes and to all people that they truly are enough, that would mean the most to us.”
The Morgan’s Message table will be set up at Braintree High School on Friday night, Oct. 16, as the Rockets football team visits the Wamps at 6 p.m., as well as Saturday, Oct. 17 at Memorial Field for the Soccer Night in Needham doubleheader. The boys and girls soccer teams will be hosting Newton South at 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., respectively.
Junior Elodie Rosen said SALT plans to continue their awareness campaign in the winter and possibly the spring.
“We ultimately really just want people to know that they’re not alone, there’s people around you in all of your communities, your classmates, your fellow athletes who are experiencing similar things,” Rosen said. “It’s just really important to talk about these things, instead of hiding from them. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
You can watch the video interviews with the three Needham student-athletes, from the story we ran on the Oct. 15 edition of the Needham Channel News, in the video box below:
