Each year, two schools will be recognized for their efforts conducting school-based youth suicide prevention activities. Schools with a student enrollment of 1,000 or less will be eligible for one award and schools with a student enrollment over 1,000 will be eligible for the other award. Schools will receive a trophy - suitable for display - and a $500 check to help enhance their prevention efforts the following year.
-
Implementation plan & order sheet are filled out and submitted in a timely fashion
-
Percent of students participating on suicide prevention team in comparison to overall school population
-
Number of presentations facilitated at own school, at other local schools and at community organizations/groups
-
Number of specialty items (keychains, stickers, t-shirts) distributed
-
Number of prevention elements planned vs. the number actually implemented
- Percent of students impacted by prevention messages in comparison to overall school population
Evidence of creative ways of delivering the key messages of suicide prevention:
- Youth suicide is a serious problem in our state
- There are warning signs to watch for
- There are prevention steps you can take to help a friend (Show You Care, Ask the Question & Get Help)
These awards are named in memory of a young man who died by suicide in 1992. Each school year, Trevor's parents, Scot and Leah Simpson, present the 2 winning schools with an engraved trophy and a check for $500.00 to enhance their prevention efforts for the coming year.
We are proud of these schools for going above and beyond the campaign expectations.
ANNOUNCING - The 2009-2010 Trevor Simpson Award Winners
Pictures from the Award Presentations will be posted in the Fall.
Kamiakin (Kennewick) Under the stellar leadership of Kelly Bolson, DECA students, Brielle Olson and Emily Thoelke, and the SADD Club, the Kamiakin High School suicide prevention team conducted five classroom presentations that directly taught 130 students how to recognize the warning signs in a friend and how to get help. In addition the team handed out suicide prevention resource cards to every student and created a video that was shown during morning announcements.
November 16th through the 20th was declared Suicide Awareness/Prevention Week and surveys taken at the end of the week suggest that faculty and students at the high school were more aware of how to prevent suicidal behavior. The school administration also worked on their crisis response plan to enhance components related to suicide prevention, intervention and postvention. The SADD Club hopes to conduct another educational campaign next year, involving the other two high schools, and extending the messages into the greater community. Clearly this was a great experience for the students as they now feel as though they understand what to do if a friend becomes suicidal.
Orting (Pierce County) For eight years, Orting High School’s counselor, Leon Matz has provided leadership for suicide prevention activities at his school. Initially YSPP was able to offer support and technical assistance to Pierce County schools, but budget cut-backs made it impossible starting in 2008. That did not deter Leon; he and his team of students carried on anyway. We are indebted to his consistent, steady and thoughtful leadership. This year Leon and 15 students conducted twelve classroom presentations that directly taught 330 7th and 9th grade students how to recognize the warning signs in a friend and how to get help. They declared February 8th through the 12th as Suicide Prevention Week, creating bulletin announcements for all staff and students to hear, writing articles for the city and school newspapers, and placing an “advertisement” on the school’s reader board.The week following the classroom presentations a student made contact with Leon and expressed concern about a friend who he thought might be suicidal. There couldn’t be any greater evidence that their efforts make a difference.
YSPP is also pleased to recognize the following schools with an honorable mention:
- Ochoa Middle School (Pasco)
- Castle Rock Middle School (Cowlitz County)
2008-2009 Trevor Simpson Award Winners
Crescent Junior-Senior High School (Clallam County) is the recipient of the Trevor R. Simpson Award in the small school category. This is the second time that Crescent has been selected for this award and the fourth year that they have participated in a suicide prevention campaign. They call their team Students Offering Support (SOS) and this group of seven students gave over 20 presentations to their classmates and to students at 6 other schools! They also presented at the suicide survivors’ conference in Bremerton and were interviewed on KONP radio. As if that wasn’t enough, they held their fourth annual
suicide prevention “walk and talk” inviting adults
and youth to come together to raise awareness about the tragedy of suicide.
As a consequence of a harassing phone call to a local crisis hotline, a judge ordered a young Clallam County man to accompany the Students Offering Support group when they made one of their educational presentations. At the end of the presentation the young man reported feeling humbled by the efforts of SOS and acknowledged that what he had done certainly could have interfered with a suicidal person getting the help they needed. SOS is supervised by Sheri Jones. We thank her and the Crescent students for going “the extra mile” - extending prevention education beyond the school walls and throughout the entire county. A job well done!!
Ballard High School (King County) under the leadership of Paul Barry received the Trevor R. Simpson award in the large school category. Ballard calls their group – SLAM: Student’s Lives Always Matter. SLAM had a team of 12 students that gave classroom presentations and held an awareness booth on multiple days to reach many more students. They did a presentation at a faculty meeting believing that teachers, as well as student, needed to know the warning signs of suicide and where to refer for help. They had the honor of presenting the SLAM program at the statewide Youth Prevention Summit at Great Wolf Lodge. At a health fair at a neighboring Seattle high school a student came up to a YSPP facilitator and asked how he could start a prevention program at his school. He had heard about the “cool” stuff the SLAM club at Ballard High School was doing and wanted his school to get involved. Do we need any more proof that the SLAM club rocks and deserves this award? Congratulations!
YSPP is also pleased to recognize the following schools with an honorable mention:
- Hanford High School (Benton County), Advisor - Jed Morris
- Islander Middle School (King County), Advisor - Harry Brown