We had two guests come to Blackfoot High School on Wednesday, Sept. 10: Noah Canon and Brandy Gorno. They visited to speak with us about suicide prevention, sharing their personal experiences and explaining why supporting one another is so important.
Canon, the first speaker, began by sharing a story about how he was unhappy during his childhood, even as he spent time with friends. He showed us images that reflected his emotions, then mentioned, for example, how he would often be moping around and listening to typical music like twenty one pilots.
After telling his story, Noah invited a student from the front row onto the stage. He then asked the student to turn on their phone’s flashlight, encouraging everyone else to do the same if they wished. Soon, all of the attending students held their phones high above their heads. Then, Noah instructed us to look to the left and say to the person next to us, “Please stay,” and to do the same for the person on our right.
Then our next guest speaker, Gorno, came to talk to us about the effects of suicide, what harm it brings to the people you are leaving behind. How important you could be to someone, and the grief it would bring. She told us the story about her life and losing someone important, her child.
To go along with this, she participated in an activity showing us how many people struggle with some kind of mental health issue. The way it was done is by giving people a number, and you would stand up with other people when a number 1 through 9 was called.
At the end of the assembly, Gorno revealed that every 11 minutes someone dies by suicide, so when she stopped speaking, 4 people went up on stage, and she told us she had a timer, and that’s how many people were lost while she was speaking.
So please know that you matter, and please just stay.
