Student-Led Effort Raises $11,500 for Suicide Prevention

Kicking off with a mental health walk on Monday, September 23, and continuing with bake sales at sports games throughout the ensuing week, a drive to raise funds for the Society for the Prevention of Teenage Suicide (SPTS) was a huge success. With an initial goal of raising $10,000, the Oak Knoll community blew well past that intention and raised an incredible $11,500 to support the nonprofit group’s educational outreach.

Seniors Lauren White ’25 and classmate Abigail Cirillo ’25 spearheaded the events and rallied the Oak Knoll community around their cause. This is their second year organizing the drive.

The main event, dubbed the Mental Health Walk for Teen Suicide Prevention, brought families and friends together for a spirited 1.2-mile stroll on the Green Village Trail Loop adjacent to Oak Knoll’s Chatham Fields sports complex. Before the walk’s commencement, White and Cirillo and SPTS Community Outreach Coordinator Kyle Kalbach provided opening remarks to motivate the crowd.

“As teen suicide prevention is a topic that holds dear to us, Abby and I couldn’t be more grateful that you decided to spend your afternoon advocating for this imperative cause,” said White. “By showing your support, you will have taken literal and figurative steps toward awareness and prevention.”

She thanked faculty members, coaches, staff, the campus ministry team, and administrators who supported their fundraising ambitions. She praised all in attendance for typifying Oak Knoll Founder Cornelia Connelly’s motto, “Actions Not Words.”

In the event’s opening prayer, Cirillo asked for blessings and encouraged attendees to “be present and appreciate nature and the beauty around us and recognize the love that surrounds us.”

She explained that White and she had organized the fundraiser for SPTS because they believed in the organization’s mission. That mission states that SPTS “seeks to increase awareness, save lives, and reduce the stigma of suicide through specialized mental health training programs and resources that empower students, parents, schools, and communities with the skills needed to help youth build lives of resiliency.”

Representing SPTS, Kalbach also thanked the Oak Knoll Community.

“It takes a whole community to support mental health,” he stated. “What you are all here for today goes to show the impact that youth, students, and families can have in their communities. Thank you for being here today and participating in this fantastic event.”

According to a recent article on teenage suicide in The New Yorker, suicide research in the U.S. receives two-thirds less funding than research on other major causes of mortality.

Congratulations to our conscientious and passionate student organizers and the entire Oak Knoll community for their generous donations, which have mitigated this funding scarcity.