LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Student projects that can make a difference. That’s the goal for one classroom in the southeast valley.
One student-athlete wants to see how concussions impact mental health in athletes.
That student-athlete, Payton Powell is researching a topic that’s important to her, since she’s had several concussions on the softball field.
Powell just needs more people to play ball with her survey.
“I was kind of scared to come back from the concussions, but you just have to overcome that fear,” Powell said.
But it wasn’t easy for varsity softball player Powell of the Southeast Career and Technical Academy, especially after this happened.
“I got hit in the face with the ball, so that one was very scary because I was losing consciousness,” Powell said.
Scary for Powell’s family, too since he’s not the only one who suffered a traumatic brain injury.
“My little brother he had multiple concussions playing flag football and baseball,” Powell said.
Powell wants to turn that pain into purpose, so she came up with a game plan. Interview other athletes on how concussions have affected their mental health in a project that could land her scholarship money.
Dozens of people all told her the same thing.
“I’ve noticed that a lot of people said that they didn’t feel like they received adequate support for their concussion from their sports organization,” Powell said.
Her findings showed many people experienced light sensitivity, anxiety and depression. A 2017 study published in the National Library of Medicine focused on concussions and mental health with elite athletes. Researchers found a link between sports-related concussion and depression symptoms after looking at mood disturbance. But again, a link. Those researchers say causation cannot be determined, and more research is needed in a larger sample size.
Athletes from all over responded for Powell’s survey.
Athletic training professor, Tedd Girouard of UNLV says CCSD high school student-athletes have an athletic trainer in each school, and they follow strict concussion protocols.
“There is a Return to Play protocol. There’s also something that just started this year called a Return to Learn protocol that is within Clark County School District,” Girouard said. “So, once you have a concussion there is an actual protocol to get you returning to the classroom.”
That’s in line with what Powell’s teacher, Sarah Cooper says of safety measures at the district. Cooper came up with the idea for the research-based projects.
“Even as a teacher myself and somebody who’s coached, we do have to know our protocols and a lot of my girls, when I coach softball are now wearing the full face mask to keep the ball out of their face, which is a great idea,” Cooper said.
As for the one sport the college athletic director wouldn’t let his own kids participate in, boxing, which focuses on direct hits to the head.
Powell is looking for more participants in her concussion survey. You can participate here.
Students will find out if they won the top prize in these research-based projects at the UNLV Science Fair on March 6th, with first place taking $500. But it’s not about the money for Powell, especially after she explained how many student athletes she personally knows who have had concussions.
“Honestly, almost all of them,” Powell said. “It’s a big that’s the reason why I actually really wanted to get into my project like that is because I’ve seen so many people and people I know that have had concussions. It’s so common and it’s almost even like you don’t really bat an eye when you hear someone say they got a concussion playing sports.”
Copyright 2025 KVVU. All rights reserved.
