Taking a week to talk about the taboo

Christine Carrillo

You couldn’t escape it even if you tried. The Peer Assistance League

at Corona del Mar High School wouldn’t let that happen.

Its members made sure that every time you turned your head, you’d

see yellow ribbons. They made sure that every morning you’d hear a

myth and fact about it.

They made sure that everyone knew it was Suicide Awareness Week,

and they made sure everyone was affected.

“It’s something that really needs to be talked about at the high

school level,” said Evan Hirsch, a junior member of PAL, a student

organization. “And no matter whether you were thinking about it or

you never thought about it ... you were touched by it.”

Inspired by a workshop she attended at Concordia University in the

beginning of the year, junior Amanda Rubenstein, another PAL member,

worked with fellow member Elizabeth Dwyer to establish the first-ever

Yellow Ribbon Week, which ended Friday, at the high school.

“The idea was to pound it in and get it to each and everyone of

the students,” Rubenstein said. “It’s a message that we really wanted

to hit home ... and [spread] the idea that the same students ... that

are competing with you are there for you.”

In dealing with such a taboo topic, the organizers of the event

had to make sure they gave students a well-rounded understanding

about suicide.

“I think students sometimes get information they don’t know what

to do with,” Corona del Mar High Principal Sharon Fry said, adding

that she was proud of how well the week went.

The members of PAL wanted to make sure that students weren’t left

with questions. They made sure that they not only gave students

information about suicide, but that they also told them how to

address the issue and, more importantly, how to help.

“You have to be very careful on how you approach it because not

everyone is on the same maturity level,” PAL member Florentia Krochik

said. “We were very forceful and we were talking about it all week.”

But talking about it wasn’t enough. While PAL members shared facts

and videos about suicide with their fellow students, nothing seemed

to have had more of an effect than their guest speaker.

Students and faculty agreed that the school assembly on Wednesday

was the most powerful event of the week. Although the assembly was

voluntary, more than 1,200 students filled the gym to hear a mother

speak about her son who committed suicide. Hearing about how suicide

can change the lives of many others affected nearly everyone in the

room convinced the school that taking a step toward suicide awareness

was the right thing to do.

“Everyone kind of has a responsibility to step in there if

something’s wrong,” Rubenstein said. “We really have to be better to

each other because you never know when your going to be someone’s

life line.”