Tri-City grad’s anxiety kits for kids win international praise and help thousands

When Kaiya Bates was a young girl she often felt alone. But mental health was not a topic of normal childhood conversations.

For seven years, her extreme anxiety kept her in a personal bubble. Her selective mutism, as she later learned it was called, meant she never spoke to anyone outside her immediate family.

But over time and therapy, she’s far from that point in her life.

A Chiawana High School senior now wants to parlay her work advocating for mental health resources into a career as a clinical child psychologist.

“My ultimate goal is definitely to destigmatize the topic and normalize that conversation because when I was younger it was never talked about ...,” said Kaiya Bates, 18.

“I really want to be able to be that example, especially for young kids, to show that it’s OK to talk about your struggles and it’s OK to have mental health issues. I mean, one-in-four people actually suffer with a mental health condition.”

Many in the community know Bates as the 2022 Miss Tri-Cities Outstanding Teen who helped raise $23,000 to create 600 “CALM-ing kits” that were placed in every Pasco elementary school.

That project recently earned her a 2023 Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) first-place award at the International Career Development Conference.

Chiawana High School DECA advisor Leslie Bell said the program has never had a student take home gold in its 14 years.

“I almost have no words,” Bell said. “This is making history, this is record breaking for us.”

“It’s incredibly impressive. It speaks to Kaiya. Kaiya did this completely on her own. We provided the opportunity, the platform for her, but this is all Kaiya.”

Bates competed against 150 other students in the “project management community awareness” category, and took the top prize after submitting a 20-page paper and after multiple presentations.

The recognition caps two years — and hundreds of hours — of work for the Chiawana senior, who will graduate this spring with both her high school diploma and AA transfer degree from Columbia Basin College. With a grade point average of 3.99, Bates is a star among an exceptionally bright slate of 2023 grads.

Her passion and dedication has inspired her peers.

CALM-kits

DECA is a high school and college program that offers students hands-on experience in marketing, finance, hospitality and management through leadership training, projects and competitions.

Bates said she joined Chiawana’s chapter this year after receiving community recognition for her CALM-ing kits. The kits — an acronym for “choices, attitude, learn, meditate” — are filled with trinkets, tools and supplies to help anxious young children calm themselves and refocus.

“This project is something I’m super passionate about because it is something that’s very personal to me,” Bates said.

As a toddler, Bates said her family knew something was off about her communication. As she went into kindergarten and public school, Bates said she was forced to write things down or whisper to the teacher because of her anxiety.

She was able to overcome her disorder with years of therapy and support from her family.

Bates was drawn to advocacy through the Miss Tri-Cities scholarship program, and after the COVID pandemic put a spotlight on and exacerbated youth mental health struggles.

She raised $23,000 to build and implement the kits — $10,000 of which was donated by Kadlec, $3,000 from Providence Health and $2,000 from the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Her kits are now in all 17 Pasco elementary schools, serving thousands of students.

DECA award

Bates was part of a group of nine Chiawana DECA students who traveled to Orlando to compete at the international conference April 21-26.

More than 22,000 students from the U.S., Canada, Spain, Germany, Japan and other countries attended those events.

“The big takeaway that I wanted from DECA was just to feel proud of how I presented myself, and how I presented my message,” she said. “I was feeling a little down, but then I got top 20 and I was, like, ‘No way.’”

Being among the top 20 qualified for a second interview. Bates said her personal story, mission and project really resonated with judges.

So much so that she made top 10, which she said she was “shocked” by.

Since returning to Washington, Bates has been traveling across the state to present her project at other DECA-related events. Bell said Bates has become a role model to her younger DECA peers, who look to her for guidance and inspiration.

Post-high school

Bates plans to attend Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, in the fall with plans to dual major in accounting and psychology.

She wants to become a clinical child psychologist because of the huge inspiration her childhood therapist has been to her.

When asked to describe the Class of 2023 in a few words, Bates — her class’s ASB vice president — said they support each other, are uplifting and like to have fun.

Bates in her spare time is a piano teacher to two dozen students, ages 6-14.