In January 2018 I walked into my high school and saw students crying, teachers comforting, and a heavy ache came over me unsure of what was happening. After the bell rang my teacher stood up and read from a piece of paper, “It comes with great sorrow I have to say, last night a student took his own life.” My family knew him, we were in the same clubs and I had just spoke with him a few days prior when everything seemed fine. It was outside that classroom where I last spoke to him. Think one was hard to handle? Not even a week later another student committed suicide, he stepped in front of a train. I would've graduated in the same class as him. Later in 2018, the day before I started my senior year, I had a very special family family member take her own life. In May of 2020, right before he would've graduated, another student from my hometown took his life, right in his home. I remember there was a GoFundMe so the family could pay for their teenage son's funeral. Are you tired of reading these stories yet?

So am I. That is why I want to help future students be educated on mental health by making it a bigger topic in the classroom. Lucky for us, other states have already passed bills on this same issue. New York and Virginia were the first states to pass laws mandating mental health education in public schools for all grade levels. Florida was next requiring grades six to twelve to complete five hours on an annual basis. New Jersey as well has all grade levels being educated in "an age-appropriate way." Connecticut was the last state to have passed a bill in May of 2021. We also have access to the curriculums that those states have already been using to educate their students that Oregon schools could follow. Here's a quick run down of the five T's (talking, training, teaching, tools, taking care) for mental health education that could be implemented in Oregon schools.

Did you know suicide is the second leading cause of death in ages ten to thirty-four? What about that one in five adults struggle with mental health disorders? It is something affecting so many people yet we aren't educated on what it is, how to help ourselves, how to notice signs in others or how to help someone in our own lives because they are afraid to talk about it. Think about the potential of our future students if they were able to take care of themselves!

Sign this petition to help get Oregon to require a better mental health education before kids graduate, so they might have a better chance at making it to graduation.