Several Resident Assistants hosted a mock birthday party for the "Happy Birthday: Make a Wish" event to advocate suicide awareness in Aquinas Hall on March 25.
The event which was part of five other events from March 15 to 25consisted of a talk about suicide.
Attendees of Monday's event received a sticker with a name on it. Senior nursing major and RA Megan Jones told the attendees that the names that they had were all the people who had committed suicide.
Then the RAs read from a list of 17 names of people who had died from suicide, some from overdose and hanging themselves, others from shooting themselves and walking into the path of a train.
Jones went on to say that RAs should be notified if anyone is suspected of committing suicide or has suicidal thoughts. If an RA is not available then Campus Security would be the next option.
"It made me think about suicide and how to prevent it," freshman biology Devin Sharpe said about the event.
Residence Hall Director Rae Esmores said that the program was to spread awareness about ways to prevent depression and suicide while creating happy birthday greeting cards for children who weren't fortunate to see another birthday.
The event had snacks, such as ice cream and a birthday cake. After the birthday cake there were games such as freeze dancing, pin-the-tail-on the dumb ox and musical chairs.
As the students were leaving, they were asked to put their name tag on a board and write a note to the person who died.
"I believe this is a great way to bring attention to the growing suicide rate," sophomore RA Niket Khetia said.
Selin Ildokuz can be reached at selin.ildokuz@student.shu.edu.
