Opinions Essay

Paying closer attention to the minds of our fellow class members

          Each year, new students come to our school. New students with different personalities and problems, different families and backgrounds. Each year, more and more students flood in through the doors to their classes, moving themselves around through the crowded halls like "little fish". Among those students - especially those in their freshman year - have a tendency to seek out drama, even if it means hurting the feelings of someone they care about.
          Bowie administration find it difficult to handle the 'situations', but they don't even look around the halls to stop the punches (both verbal and physical) that are thrown around like nothing, yet the words are taken to heart by most of these victims.
          Being a victim of these confrontations myself, I can reflect the pain received by most other victims. However, even though Bowie staff and student council members are so proud of their 'No Place For Hate' achievements, the school still undergoes a heartbreaking amount of students who pass from suicide. A concern of mine is how many teens lives have been taken through their own hands because they have nobody else to turn to for help.
          Over the last 5 years, about 8 teenagers from Bowie have taken their own lives, all because they were beaten down into the pit of depression. All of those deaths could have been either delayed or prevented if the district would put a little more funding to find some better, or some more, officers to patrol campus.
          Now, with this suggestion out at hand, I understand that coming up with the funding to save a blasted tree from dying, I believe that the school board or school community could help to raise money to help future subjects of depression, or to make a memorial to commemorate those who have already departed us. Over the course of this year, I have had many losses, one of which was a student at this school. Out of respect for the family, they have not asked me to say his name. But, killing himself opened my eyes and I wish I had known how to help while I still had a chance. Some kind of way to put out there that they can get help would be wonderful as well, alongside the memorials for past students.
          School board members also remember last year remember when the Senior Breakfast turned into a cruel Senior Roast. Mother of one of the roasted students, Josie Kendrick, spoke in an interview with CNN correspondents about the incident, saying "Suicide, depression in kids is real. It's a slippery slope. And I could see one of these silly awards hurting somebody so badly that they'll give up."
          The words we send and the things we say - both behind someone's back and to their face - each little thing should be thought out before being said. A cry for help may be small, but it's recognition is very much needed at this school - both for the past losses and those looking towards harming themselves in the future.