By Caelan Saunders

Editor-in-Chief

Within the past year, South, the Blue Springs School District, and the surrounding districts have suffered the loss of so many people. Teachers, students, family, friends, loved ones, regardless of who they were, are no longer with us and impact us both individually and as a community.

The most recent loss is in the form of Robert Keil, a South sophomore, who committed suicide.

Over the past several years, the number of suicides within the district has increased dramatically. This is a problem for us as a community. How can we do everything in our power to try to help these people who are hurting so badly that they feel that suicide is the only option?

Most of it simply has to do with education. People can either be ignorant to the problem and not recognize or understand what to do, or, even worse, they could misunderstand the issue and create a stigma against mental illness. Programs are tailored specifically not only to reach out to those who are feeling overwhelming burdens, but also to help everyday students like you and me be aware and recognize the problem. The only way we can possibly begin to combat suicide is by having a unified effort. We are tired of this continued problem and can no longer bear any more loss.

The school district has invited a guest speaker for April 7 to speak on suicide awareness, and there are days planned out next fall for both middle schoolers and freshmen to attend assemblies and have discussions on mental illness and suicide. The district has realized and understood the depth of the problem and is trying to undertake those key precautionary actions to prevent anymore suicides.

Very few people can empathize with those who deal with depression, and I’m not going to pretend that I can. What we can do is become educated and caring about the problem. We can try and understand it to the best of our ability and give support to those who truly need it the most.