As part of the Associated Student Body (ASB)’s Suicide Prevention Week, an “Open Mic” event took place in the black box during lunch on Wednesday, Jan. 17. A crowd of students and faculty gathered to share their opinions, feelings and stories that shed light on the subjects of suicide and depression.

Five people volunteered to speak in front of the crowd. They shared poems, monologues and personal anecdotes about topics ranging from friendlessness and depression to hope for the future and reasons to live. After one student started things off with a poem titled “I am Perfect,” more people came up to talk as the crowd listened.

ASB Awareness Week Director Hannah Yale ‘20 was one of the organizers for this event. She stated that she was “really glad that a lot of people showed up, and that as many people shared as they did.”

Despite being a rather short event, a large amount of people came to listen; by the end, nearly all of the seats were filled and people were standing in the back.

Following the first speaker’s poem, the second speaker shared a monologue about finding a reason to live. The next presenter recounted the depression he experienced as a product of his “extremely destructive” family and lack of friends.

After this, Melanie “Captain” Lindsey spoke about how she came close to suicide while dealing with depression in college. She hopes that students know that they “ aren’t alone,” and urges them to talk to the teachers if they ever feel depressed or suicidal.

Following Lindsey, the final speaker talked about her depression in the context of going through a hard time that “no one really knew” about.

As part of the concluding remarks, Yale informed everyone about the Green Ribbon awareness event that will take place on Friday, Jan. 18 on the stage. She thanked people for coming and encouraged them to participate in mental health awareness by wearing green on Friday.

“Seeing all these people here, it just makes me feel so hopeful,” Yale said, in response to the large turnout at the event. “This school is becoming the safe space that I never had.”