A group of students met at Risman Plaza Tuesday evening to begin a 1.7 mile walk around campus to raise awareness for those who have either attempted suicide or lost their lives to suicide.
The event was put on by Active Minds at KSU, a nonprofit organization centered around mental health and suicide prevention. Active Minds is a national club, with a chapter at the university.
Hunter Frey-Burkart, a senior neuroscience major and president of Active Minds at KSU, said the length of the walk was not just randomly selected.
“We chose 1.7 miles because, from data from 2021, approximately 1.7 million Americans attempted to commit suicide,” Frey-Burkart said.
Similarly to the length, the date of the walk was not decided at random, either.
The month of September is symbolic to those who have lost someone to suicide or attempted self-harm.
“September is suicide awareness month, and in honor of that, we wanted to host an event to try and bring awareness to suicide,” Frey-Burkart said.
After the walk, students were offered water, fruit snacks and granola bars. Additionally, they were given colorful chalk to write inspirational messages across Risman Plaza.
Some of the chalk messages said things like, “No estas solo” (“You are not alone” in Spanish), “Call your friends” and “Here for you.”
One student even wrote out the link for the university’s mental health resources website.
Students like Josh Goldfarb, a freshman early childhood education major, shared what this event meant to them.
“I think it is a very nice event for people who have any connection to suicide,” Goldfarb said. “I feel really good, this event really mellowed me out and got me feeling very nice and calm which is what I wanted out of it.”
Frey-Burkart also shared what this event meant to him and what he wanted others to get out of it.
“It means a lot to me personally, just because I have struggled a little bit in the past, and I just want to create an experience that everyone can feel a part of, so it means a lot,” Frey-Burkart said.
Events like these can help show students they are not alone, he said.
“Part of it is to show how commonplace suicide ideation or self-harm or suicide attempts in general are,” Frey-Burkart said. “I think it can definitely help break the stigma because if people see that it is more common, they will be like, ‘Oh, maybe I should ask for help or talk to someone.’”
Goldfarb felt similarly about the topic of suicide awareness and said there should be an increase of awareness around this subject.
“I think it’s making [suicide] something that is more easily talked about – breaking the stigma,” Goldfarb said. “Stigma is when not many people talk about it, but if everyone is talking about it and you see a lot of people participating in events like these, then I think more people will be on board.”
If you or someone you know are having thoughts of suicide or are experiencing emotional distress, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or visit 988lifeline.org. A list of campus hotlines and resources, as well as outside resources and other information, can be found here.
Olivia Montgomery is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
