Sandy Creek Central School District

Sara McNitt’s sixth-grade class shows off their creative, positive, and inspiring chalk art.

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Sara McNitt’s sixth-grade class shows off their creative, positive, and inspiring chalk art.

If you have walked on the sidewalks behind the Sandy Creek Junior/Senior High School recently, you may have noticed encouraging phrases such as You Matter, Be Kind, Love Yourself, and Smile Today.

This chalk artwork was created by Sara McNitts sixth-grade class to raise awareness about suicide prevention, which was part of their Creeker Character curriculum.

Creeker Character is a character education program led by school social worker Brittany Clark and middle school counselor Lacey Marriott. They work alongside core teachers to utilize a 25-minute break in the middle of the day to teach lessons surrounding each months character trait.

Septembers character trait was service. The students chose to partner with the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Oswego County to participate in Chalk the Walk, an event that promotes normalizing conversations surrounding mental health and wellness as a community-wide suicide awareness initiative.

The students have come up with these quotes completely on their own, in hopes to bring light and happiness to someones life, and to also let them know that they matter and are loved, Marriott said.

The sixth-graders were not the only students participating in suicide awareness month. Sandy Creek Central School Students of all ages pulled together to raise awareness for such an important cause. Six high schoolers made 150 bracelets and 100 ribbons that were handed out to grades 9-12 while middle schoolers played suicide prevention jeopardy. A recent football game was considered suicide prevention awareness night as SADD members handed out 988 suicide prevention cards and ribbons to spectators, while the cheerleaders wore suicide awareness bows.

"I'm so proud of how all grade levels brought awareness to suicide prevention this month and are taking steps to break the stigma every day, said Clark. If anyone is interested in learning more about suicide prevention, visit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention https://afsp.org/about-afsp/ or contact me for a free QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) training.