At the award ceremony: l to r, Joseph Carrillo, Vice President of Diversity and Access, Children’s Hospital Boston (CHB); Sandra Fenwick, Chief Operating Officer, CHB; GESS student Julia Anzaldi; GESS Principal Catalina Montes; Boston Mayor Thomas Menino; and HSPH Dean Barry Bloom.

The Gardner Extended Services School (GESS) in Allston won the award, which recognizes community-oriented programs that improve the health of children and adolescents living in Boston.

This year’s award focused on efforts to address mental health in children. GESS has mounted a comprehensive effort to bring mental health services to the school’s children and their parents. So far, staff members have conducted mental health screenings of all of the school’s approximately 450 students.

The school also offers adult education, health and dental care, and after-school programs to both students and their families.

Once a traditional public school, GESS was transformed to include extended services a few years ago after an extensive planning effort by a group of school staff, parents, community members, and school partners. The team developed a program that includes a full-time school-based social worker, a team of social work students from Boston College, and a partnership with the Allston-Brighton Mental Health Center to provide services such as access to counselors who speak Spanish and other languages.

GESS is a collaborative effort involving Allston’s Thomas Gardner Elementary School, Boston College, the YMCA of Greater Boston-Oak Square Family Branch, and the Allston-Brighton Healthy Boston Coalition.

The Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Children’s Health and a $10,000 prize were presented on October 16 at GESS. Speakers included HSPH Dean Barry Bloom; Boston Mayor Thomas Menino; Catalina Montes, principal of GESS; Joseph Carrillo, Vice President for Diversity and Access, Children’s Hospital Boston; and Sandra Fenwick, chief operating officer, Children’s Hospital Boston.

Previous winners of the award have included the Horizons Initiative Community Children’s Center for its programs for homeless children and their parents, the Bowdoin Street Health Center for its work to prevent lead poisoning in Dorchester’s children, and Crittendon-Hastings House for services to pregnant teens.