The school’s Yellow Ribbon Week took place from Tuesday, Sept. 3 to Friday, Sept. 6, and ended with the annual Suicide Prevention Walk on Saturday, Sept. 7.

Nationally, September is focused on suicide prevention and awareness. Organized by the school’s Peer Assistant Listener, a student mental health organization, the week is dedicated to suicide awareness and prevention, including discussions on warning signs and help-seeking strategies. It aims to raise awareness, help students feel less alone, and educate the community on the topic. 

Events throughout the week included physical messaging with yellow ribbons, candy grams, therapy dogs, bracelet making, free donuts, granola bars, lemonade, and the Suicide Prevention Walk.

“The first Suicide Prevention walk was hosted by PALs last year, and it increased community involvement and support,” new PALs member, Zahra Alam (10) said. “The walk included resource tables, food for attendees, and a focus on mental health representation and support.” 

This year, PALs had their resource booth, VG Donuts, AIM Youth Mental Health Resource Booth, and student speakers at the walk.

“PALs has five commitments: new student, wellness, digital messaging, physical messaging, and outreach,” Alam said. “Each committee is responsible for preparing and executing different parts of the Yellow Ribbon Week events and activities.”

Alam is new to the PALs community and a wellness committee member. The wellness committee plans activities and creates slideshows for school-wide announcements to spread awareness and relevance about the topic, while the physical messaging committee is responsible for the yellow ribbons around campus and the “Hallway of Life,” according to Alam.

Shireen Sabouri (10) discussed how activities organized by PALs, such as therapy dogs and informational cards, provided crucial resources for students. 

“I believe that all of these activities did a great job representing the topic this week,” Sabouri said. “It seems that they put in a lot of hard work and effort for activities around school.”

However, Sabouri believes more education could have been given to students.

“I enjoyed the SC time and slideshow presentation educating the students on the topic,” Sabouri said. “However, I believe that more work on actually educating the students could have been done.” 

Other members of PALs also highlighted how important it is to them to raise awareness of this topic among the students and create a safe place at school. 

“My committee is responsible for creating posters around the school and that is our way of bringing awareness and light to the topic,” first-year PALs member Greta Pennock (10) said. “You never know if someone around the school is struggling and needs to see something meaningful which helps them know that they are not alone.” 

Axel Wiklund (10), another new member of the organization, explained why he believes the topic of suicide holds so much significance. 

“I believe it is such an intense topic that many people experience, so it is essential to bring light to it,” Wiklund said. “It is one of the leading causes of death, especially in teens.” 

Every year, all students are strongly encouraged to participate in a wellness survey called the Healthy Kids Survey. These responses allow the school to receive strong and honest student feedback.

“The data from the Healthy Kids survey and parent feedback helps us understand what our students are struggling with and what we can do to support them and be better,” PALs adviser, Angela Wilden said. 

This month’s PALs theme, “Better Together,” highlights community reconnection and supporting one another. Wilden stressed the importance of doing small actions in the community to foster a supportive environment.

“If something doesn’t feel right, ask for help, find an adult,” Wilden said. “Trust that gut feeling because you never know what everyone else is growing through. Truly just being nice all around, on school or social media, these little things have such a big impact.”

This year, PALs is focused on using its authority in the school to advocate for and bring awareness to this topic with its required delicacy.

“PALs is more focused on representation this year because it is such a serious topic, making sure we are covering it appropriately, making sure everyone feels comfortable and safe,” PALs President, Shyla Mighdoll (12) said. 

PALs will continue working for the rest of the month to advocate and bring awareness to this topic of suicide, creating a safe place in the school. The group will continue to host their Welcome Wednesdays every odd day in Room nine during lunchtime.

“Everyone struggles with their mental health, and everyone deserves someone to be there for them and relate to them,” Mighdoll said.