PARAMUS, N.J. – Members of the student-run Active Minds club at Bergen Community College, a group whose purpose is to reduce the stigma often attached to mental health and wellness issues, sponsored a photo booth on campus Sept. 29 as part of National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Students, including club president Kathryn Aupperlee (left), of Wyckoff, and secretary Ryan Mulligan, of Wayne, and the College community penned personalized inspirational messages for posting on social media using the hashtag #LiveForTomorrow. Mulligan’s message said, “I am grateful for friends, family, opportunity and support!”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, there were 41,149 suicides in 2013 in the U.S. – a rate equal to 113 suicides each day or one every 13 minutes.
The College’s Active Minds club, established in April 2015, is part of a national nonprofit group of 400 chapters who work to educate students on college campuses across the country. Members organize and participate in events like this throughout the school year to continue the dialogue surrounding the topic of mental illness. Weekly meetings take place Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in room B-203 at the main campus’ Pitkin Education Center. Contact [email protected] for more information.
Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls 15,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.
# # #