- Today on "Extra Credit", a songwriting lesson from an award-winning singer plus strategies to deal with our emotions.

Stay tuned.

(energetic music begins) Welcome to "Extra Credit" where we meet interesting people, explore new ideas and discover fun places together.

I'm your host, Yash.

We all deal with stress, fear, worry, or sadness, at some point in our lives.

During today's show, we'll explore how we can manage these various emotions in healthy ways.

First off, what makes you, you.

Teaching artists from "The Diatribe" share what they love the most about themselves.

Let's take a look.

(playful music) - [Sprout] I love my sense of humor.

I think I'm so (chuckles) funny.

(crowd laughing) I love my capacity for empathy and compassion as much as I hate it, some days, I love it.

I love my goofy faces.

A lot of what I love about myself is just being goofy.

I love the way that my brain works.

It's like the things that I have hated about myself are the things that I also love about myself, having mental illnesses and stuff, it feels like your brain is your enemy, but the mental illnesses are the shadow to the light that is how creative and imaginative my brain is.

And so I guess, I love you, brain.

(chuckles) - I love the fact that kids feel safe coming to me with anything.

I also love the fact that I not only have the respect of the youth, but I have respect from those who may be in the streets and not doing the most glamorous things.

And I also have a great relationship with those who are mayors and CEOs.

And so, I like the fact that I'm able to bridge that gap between all of them by being who I am.

- I love my sense of humor.

I think it could be very, very dark at times, but it's like 99% true.

I love being surprised.

We talked about stereotypes.

We'll say like, you prejudge somebody that walked in, or you had no expectations, and then all of a sudden, they just surprise you and they just have a great talent or they hit you with a quote that lasts a lifetime.

That I love.

Just the art of being surprised when something that just puts a smile on your face for days to come, I love that.

And I love being a dad and I never expected that.

Not that I was like, yeah, man, I hate my kids growing up or nothing like that.

No, I just never expected the amount of love I have for a little human and to just hold her, to smile, to get her to smile.

I love seeing my mom around my kids.

I love seeing my family.

Yeah, man.

And I love to do stuff for people, man.

I am constantly surprised when somebody says, "Man, yo, you told me such and such in this.

And it's always stuck with me."

And then for someone to take what I've learned and to use it for themselves and try to better themselves, I think that is one of the most gratifying feelings on the planet.

(playful music) - Hi, my name is Dr. S. I am very proud of my job because I care for how people feel, think, and behave.

I am a counselor.

Counselors teach us words we can use to tell others how we feel.

They also help us to make good choices and set goals for the future.

We can also help by connecting you and your family to other helpers, like doctors and teachers.

Counselors work in offices, hospitals, at your school, even sometimes in community centers.

We are important helpers in our neighborhood because we help people learn about themselves and their place in the world.

- [Narrator] To meet other helpers in our neighborhood, go to meetthehelpers.org.

- [Host] Meet the helpers is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

(playful music) - I'm Raven Saunders and I'm an Olympic shot putter.

- [Olympic Commentator] Raven Saunders leads the world in the women's shot put.

And she'd blast that shot out.

- [Announcer] Raven Saunders from the USA, such power in these throws.

- So my nickname is The Hulk.

And I like to think that I'm pretty strong, especially, for a girl.

(laughs) I've bench pressed 480 pounds, I've squatted 700 pounds.

And I guess when people see me, seeing how strong I am, people just think that nothing fazes The Hulk.

Growing up where I grew up, being tough was like the norm.

(baby crying) So it was me, my sister, and then my mother.

And over the years, I had some step parents that were drug abusers and also alcoholics.

(man screaming) And I remember there were instances where somebody may put their hands on my mom and now me at eight or nine, it was only about so much that I could do.

But once I got to high school, now I'm like, well, I have to protect her.

Hitting the weight room, now this is an outlet for me to make sure that never happens again.

And being stronger than most of the guys, people were just like, "Yeah, you gotta come out with the shot put."

I was like, I guess I'll try it out.

And then I was like, wow, I found something that I'm good at.

It gave me a sense of purpose.

- [Commentator] Raven Saunders for the- (crowd cheering) - And then once I won that state championship, I was like, okay, I can actually do something with this.

2016, I'm a sophomore in college.

And making that Olympic team was definitely within arm's reach.

So I went to the Olympic Trials and my second throw, I just knew.

(crowd cheering) (clapping) I was like, oh, I made the team, I made the team.

(festive music) It's crazy because we go through this Olympic stadium and there's 30, 40, 50,000 people cheering you on.

You're around the best athletes in the world.

It's one of the highest of highs that there is.

So when it came time for competition, I was ready.

But once you set foot on that line and once you set foot in that ring, the amount of pressure and stress, it's very tough.

So for me, I have to go to this place.

Sometimes even a deep dark place, just to try and pull out that crazy level of intensity that we always have to go to, like I'm 'bout to kill it because I'm the strongest.

(grunts) I feel like for me, that's how I got by.

- [Olympic Commentator] Raven Saunders, USA.

- And then I made that final.

- [Commentator] It's the sixth and final round effort for Raven Saunders.

(crowd cheering) And that's her best throw of the day.

- [Raven] I ended up being fifth place out of the greatest athletes from all around the world.

And I couldn't be mad at that.

I was extremely happy.

(marching band music begins) Coming back home, my city gave me my own day.

I had a parade.

- [Host] The streets were lined with anxious spectators, hoping to get a wave from their hometown hero.

- Went back to school, and everybody knew who I was.

- [Reporter] Are y'all proud of Raven Saunders?

(crowd cheers) - [Raven] I was definitely riding a high, but once that high wore off and I had to face reality, that was when things got bad.

During season, I know who I am.

I have a purpose.

But you get back to that off-season period, and it's like, I'm still sitting with the childhood traumas, and stresses and confidence issues and a lot of these things that I hadn't let go, or I hadn't talked about, now as an adult, they're still coming into play.

I was battling a lot.

It was like the weight of the world was resting on my chest and there was nothing I could do about it.

But I felt like I couldn't talk to people because I had gotten to a place of such success that I wasn't saying, hey, I'm struggling with this or hey, I'm dealing with all of these issues and problems.

I was making it seem like everything's good on this side of the hood, like I made it out, I'm doing good now.

I didn't realize that I was actually suffering from depression.

It was just like, I guess this is how life goes.

As my depression got worse, I was exhausted, tired, not really caring about anything.

And once I got to the track season, I really lost all passion for it.

And then it was like, I don't wanna be here anymore.

I quit.

So I feel like people that are about to commit suicide, before it happens, you kinda have like a plan.

(car engine starts) So everyday, going to campus, when you get to the end of the main road, there's a drop-off.

And I always looked at it like, man, that'd be crazy if somebody drove off it.

And as my depression got worse, I started to have these thoughts about like, I bet I won't make it if I go off this cliff.

And then at one point, I had to drive past that place again.

I looked at it and I'm like, hey, I can do this.

But something in me was just like, hit up your therapist.

I was like, how everything was weighing on me, how I didn't see a way out and pretty much how in the next couple hours, I don't know if I'm gonna be here.

But thankfully, she texted me back (phone alert chimes) saying, give me a minute to help you.

And just hearing that, it meant a lot.

(car signal beeping) So I went home and it was enough time for one of our trainers to give me a call and get me to come in and get the help that I needed.

They took me to the hospital, got checked in.

I remember being thankful, like all of these things that had been weighing on me for 22 years at that point, I was finally able to process it.

It was definitely a battle mentally, mentally challenging.

Oh my god.

(scoffs) But I was finally able to separate Raven from The Hulk.

Going into this up and coming Olympics, I really don't think that anything at this point can faze me.

I'm better now.

I still suffer from depression.

It's one of those things that doesn't just go away.

But when I look at life and all that I've been through and all that I've dealt with and all that I've overcome, when I set foot in that stadium, I can handle anything.

(piano music) (uplifting music) (playful music) (scribing) (birds chirping) (child giggling) - Hey, guys, it's time for our "InPACT@Home", minute of movement.

And we're gonna be working on jabs today.

Let's start off with left jabs, left leg in the front, right leg in the back, shoulder length apart.

Left jab, left jab, left jab, left jab, left jab, left jab, good, left jab, left jab, left jab, left jab, keep bringing the shoulder up to the cheekbone and standing out, turn the fist over.

Left jab, left jab, left jab.

Switch sides.

Right leg in the front.

Right jab, right jab, right jab, right jab, right jab, good, right jab, right jab, right jab, right jab, and five, four, three, two, one, all right we're finished.

Thanks for taking part in this "InPACT@Home", minute of movement.

(playful music) (guitar music) - Hello, all my wonderful friends.

My name is Miss Audra and I'm so excited to be here and together today, we are gonna write a song about our emotions.

We're gonna think about how emotions fill our bodies, cover our faces and even make sounds come out of our mouth.

The sounds of emotions.

What are emotions?

Well, they're feelings that we feel based on things that happened to us.

So we have emotions and we use all of these emotions, these feelings we have to express how we're doing.

And so, we feel these things in our whole bodies.

So when we're sad, our whole bodies feel sad.

And we feel it in our body.

We feel it on our face.

People see it on our face and we can make sounds.

We make sounds about how we feel with our emotions.

So let's explore some emotions.

First let's think about happiness.

How does your body feel when it's happy?

So I want you, wherever you are right now, just feel happiness in your body.

Does it make you do a little dance?

I want you to think about that and make your own movement for what does happiness feel like in your body?

For me, happiness in my body might be like, (gasps) I just wanna like move around and wiggle a little bit.

So do that now with your body and try to remember that.

And think about then what's happening on your face when you're really happy?

Do you get a big smile on your face?

Are your eyes big and bright?

Do your eyebrows go up?

Are your shoulders back?

All kinds of ways to express happiness.

And what kind of sounds do you make?

Are you laughing?

(laughs) Or are you just like, your voice kind of in a higher register, and you're just like, woo-hoo, ha-ha, yippee, hooray!

What about sadness?

How does sadness kind of take over your body?

Sometimes your shoulders kind of turn down as your body kinda go a little limp maybe.

A little quiet in your body.

Maybe on your face, you have a frown.

Even sometimes, there's tears coming out of my eyes.

And what kind of sounds happen?

Sometimes you audibly are crying.

(sniffs) Sometimes, you just kind of quiet.

What about angry?

Think about what angry looks like in your body.

Sometimes, we might even puff up our chest a little bit when we get angry.

Sometimes, I curl my fist when I'm angry, just like kind of holding in that feeling of anger.

When I get angry, sometimes, my fists get tight and my body is tight and my chest.

I furl my brows, so my face kind of squinches up.

And I might say, (grunts) those are some of the sounds when we're angry.

So you're gonna be making your own sound at home or in the classroom (grunts) for angry.

What about hopeful?

(deep inhales) Hopeful that something might happen.

Hopeful is a fun emotion.

You might be hopeful that you're gonna have ice cream after school today.

That would be lovely.

And maybe the flowers are about to bloom and you're just getting really hopeful for spring.

And you're just excited that the snow has melted.

And so, what's like hopeful in your body?

Might be kind of a calming look in your body, maybe relaxed?

Maybe your face is just clear-eyed and maybe a small smile on your face.

And what kind of sound might you make when you're hopeful?

(sighs) Think about your own sound.

What sound will you make in our song today?

Hmm, what about disappointment?

It's not quite sad, but disappointment.

Yeah, you just wish something happened and it didn't.

This is a complicated emotion sometimes.

How does your body feel when you're disappointed?

Sometimes I even cross my arms when I'm disappointed.

So I want you at home or at school, wherever you are, show me disappointed.

What's on your face?

Maybe not quite a frown, but just kind of even.

What kind of sound might you make sometimes I... (huffing) I'm disappointed.

So one more, surprise.

(gasps) I love being surprised.

What does that feel like in your body?

(banging) Is that a jolt?

Your whole body is in surprised.

And you make big movement.

What's your movement for surprise?

What about your face?

(gasps) What kind of sound do you make when you're surprised?

(gasps) (screaming) So these are the things that we're gonna put into our song today.

So go back in your mind and think about what were you doing when you were happy, sad, or angry, hopeful, disappointed, (gasps) and surprised?

Here we go.

All right, friends, we are ready.

Don't forget, how are you gonna move with your body.

What kind of expression will be on your face?

And what kind of sound is gonna come out of your mouth?

All I need now is my guitar.

(gasps) And here it is.

(laughing) All right, Let's see.

(guitar music begins) So first when I feel happy, my body moves like this, my face looks like that, and here is the sound I make.

Are we ready?

And we're gonna learn it together.

Don't worry.

So as we sing our song, you're going to bring it through your body, you are going to show it on your face, whatever feeling and ideas you had for those feelings and also make your own sound.

So I'll make a sound and you're gonna make your own sound.

Here we go.

(guitar music continues) "Song of Emotion".

♪ When I feel happy, my body moves like this ♪ ♪ My face looks like that ♪ ♪ And here is the sound I make ♪ (laughing) ♪ But when I feel sad, my body moves like this ♪ ♪ My face looks like that ♪ ♪ And here is the sound I make ♪ (sobs) ♪ 'Cause we all have emotions that carry us away ♪ ♪ And that's okay ♪ ♪ 'Cause we all have emotions ♪ ♪ And it's fine and fair to say ♪ ♪ That I'm still trying to figure out ♪ ♪ The ones I feel today.

♪ All right, get ready for angry.

♪ When I feel angry, my body moves like this ♪ ♪ My face looks like that ♪ ♪ And here is the sound I make ♪ (grunts) How about a hope?

♪ When I feel hopeful, my body moves like this ♪ ♪ My face looks like that ♪ ♪ And here is the sound I make ♪ (sighs) ♪ We all have emotions that carry us away ♪ ♪ And that's okay.

♪ Here we go, (faintly speaking) ♪ We all have emotion ♪ ♪ And it's fine and fair to say ♪ ♪ That I'm still trying to figure out ♪ ♪ The ones I feel today ♪ Disappointment.

You wish something had happened and it just didn't go your way.

♪ When I'm disappointed, my body moves like this ♪ ♪ My face looks like that ♪ ♪ And here is the sound I make ♪ (huffing) ♪ But when I feel surprised, my body moves like this ♪ ♪ My face looks like that ♪ (gasps) ♪ And here is the sound I make ♪ (gasping) ♪ We all have emotions that carry us away ♪ ♪ And that's okay ♪ ♪ Yes, we all have emotions and it's fine and fair to say ♪ ♪ That I'm still trying to figure out ♪ ♪ The ones I feel today ♪ ♪ Yes, we all have emotions and it's fine and fair to say ♪ ♪ I'm still trying to figure out ♪ ♪ The ones I feel today.

♪ Yeah.

Oh, wonderful.

All of those emotions, feeling them in our bodies, our full bodies, seeing them reflected and expressed on our face and hearing the sound that each emotion makes, happiness, sadness, anger, hopefulness, disappointed, (gasps) and surprised.

I hope you enjoy being with me today.

I sure enjoy being with you, friends.

Again my name is Miss Audra, and this was the "Song of Emotions".

(guitar music) (playful music) - That's all for today, folks.

I had such a great time writing lyrics using my emotions.

How did your song turn up?

Be sure to check out our website for more mental health resources.

See you next time.

- [Narrator] This program (upbeat music) is made possible in part by Michigan Department of Education, the state of Michigan, and by viewers like you.

(lively music)