BUTTE — The college years can be some of the best years of your life, but they're also some of the most stressful, and suicide is a major issue among students on college campuses all across the country. That’s why Montana Tech is not afraid to address this issue.
“Suicide is the second leading cause of death in college students currently, so to get information and to have them talk about it is one of the first steps we can do to reduce that,” said Montana Tech Nursing Instructor Megan Rediske.
In honor of Suicide Prevention Month, students from the Butte campus’s nursing program set up interactive stations in the student union to give students information about this issue.
“We made sure to make it very interactive so that people wouldn’t just walk by the booths; they can pour shots as well as do some golf, just see what their judgment is like,” said nursing student Ramzi Demachki.
Along with mental health, the nurses warned fellow students about the dangers of excessive drinking.
“And here in Butte, there’s not a lot of resources for mental health, so a lot of people here are falling towards alcohol as a coping mechanism for it,” said nursing student Hannah Corsie.
One station gave away coloring pages that had curse words on them as a stress reliever. So, Kimmie tells me that you can swear or even write down a curse word to reduce stress,—now, I never knew that.
“Well, that’s because you’re a (expletive),” she said.
You feel better now?
“Yeah!”
Nursing student Sydney Doyle added, “I think just being aware of what you can do when that time comes because you can be one to help someone going through a very dark time and that is super important, like, you could be what saves them ultimately.”
This is just one of many activities going on this week as part of Montana Tech’s homecoming week.
