Hope Week addresses suicide issues at Riverton High School

During the last week of January, Riverton High School's Hope Squad held its annual Hope Week. During this week-long event, students and teachers at Riverton High focus on life.

"Our counseling center created this group to help prevent suicide, to encourage students to choose life, and to have students trained to be a resource for others in the school to have someone to turn to in hard times," Nancy Webster, Riverton High School publicity coordinator, said.

Each day the students are given different things to help them make the decision to choose life. One day each student receives a Lifesaver stapled to a card that contains information on how to deal with possible thoughts of suicide and what signs to watch for.

Another day the students received buttons stating "Choose life, ask me how." These buttons are put together with the hope that they will prompt dialogue among the students.

On Jan. 27, the Hope Squad brought Stephanie Nielson in to speak to students. Nielson and her husband were in a plane crash in 2008 and she sustained major burns all over her body. She spoke to the student body about her struggle and her decision to choose life.

The main event of the week was the Hope Walk on Saturday. Along with Mayor Bill Applegarth, students' families walked. There were about 140 people who showed up for the walk which organizers hope focuses attention on the Hope Squad's mission.

The students walked in the cold from Riverton High to the city offices where the mayor took a few moments to speak with the students. "Each student can be beneficial by helping not only the individual student, but also helping a lifetime that a particular student could be," Applegarth said.

"We do it deliberately in the cold so that people are actually committed to the cause," Jerry Payne, head counselor at the high school, said. "I'm always amazed at how many have been touched by suicide."

Payne expressed his concern for the students. He stated that the winter months can be very bleak for students, and the Hope Squad helps to be the eyes and ears for these at risk students.

"Suicide issues continue to be a problem here at RHS and hopefully, this will be a proactive way to deal with some of the problems our students face," he said.



By Alisha Tondro for The South Valley Journal

Published in March 2011 in Riverton, Utah

Students, families and teachers all walk in the

Hope Walk to inspire confidence in choosing life.

http://www.southvalleyjournal.com/pages/full_story/?id=5702&type=Articles&numitems=1&startitem=0&showimages=1