by Dylan Ferguson–September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and two campus groups did their part to bring awareness. On the evening of October 6th, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity and Active Minds came together to hold their second annual Walk to Prevent Suicide.
Representatives of both groups, as well as others from Morningside campus, met at Olsen Stadium and traversed to Bob Roe’s. Upon arrival, Active Minds members Krista Hogstad and Collin Adank gave a speech on what walkers can do to when someone they know is considering suicide.
The walk was originally intended to happen on September 29th, but organizers were faced with severe weather during the time of the original planned walk and had to reschedule. This ended up being a good move, according to Sinfonian and chairman of the walk Grant Alberts, due to the perfect weather on the rescheduled day. “We had a lot of fun. The people that came were enthusiastic and fun to walk with,” said Alberts.
The idea for the walk began in 2018 as a way for Phi Mu Alpha to collaborate with other on campus organizations. At the time, Active Minds was in the process of becoming an on-campus group, but was not officially one yet. The service committee of the fraternity looked at this as an opportunity to begin fostering a relationship with the growing group. Now that Active Minds is a fully registered group on campus, both organizations continue to collaborate together on the annual walk.
Phi Mu Alpha and Active Minds both hope to continue organizing and hosting the walk on an annual basis. Alberts hopes to “get more campus groups involved in the walk in the coming years”. He also plans to increase their marketing of the event and to plan a rain date early on to prevent having to scramble to reschedule.
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