As students are settling into their routines, there is something new happening at Solon High School. Once a semester all students are now required to be educated on various topics such as mental health and self-harm for at least an hour. This requirement comes from House Bill 123.
Assistant Principal, Erica Kosiorek, explains the content of the bill.
“It gives a foundation for schools to teach students about suicide prevention, violence prevention and social inclusion,” Kosiorek said. “This is a mandate by the state of Ohio for all schools to incorporate, so it gives a level playing field”
Solon is implementing this bill through the new adaptation of the Signs of Suicide (SOS) program. Adriana Ripma, a Social Advocates for Youth (SAY) social worker, is also helping to implement these new meetings.
“The goal of [Signs of Suicide (SOS) program] is to really teach the young adults how to identify mental health issues within themselves and their peers, how to act, and what to do to prevent things from getting [life threatening],” said Ripma. “The goal is to make sure that you guys have the education to identify if something is off, and if yes, say something instead of sitting back and hoping nothing happens.”
However, discussions like these are not new to Solon, Kosiorek explains that Solon has had these tough conversations with students for years.
“In the past, these are all things that we’ve done and talked about,” Kosiorek said. “The only difference now is that there’s a standard.”
A concern that Kosiorek has is that students won’t take the presentations seriously. At the first senior meeting, many students were talking, making jokes and not paying attention during the presentation.
“In a large group it is hard to get a message across, and it’s not as personal as in smaller groups,” Kosiorek said “ Our plan for further education throughout the year is pulling out from English classes into small groups… I think it will become more effective and personal since we will be able to have more conversations.”
Students’ reactions to these new meetings vary, but Nick Heavilin, a senior at Solon High School, thinks that having these assemblies is a great idea.
“I thought it was pretty good that we are getting an awareness–a lot of times these are topics that are just kind of ignored,” Heavlin said.
Ripma is also helping to implement these new meetings. There has been a stigma around mental health for years, Ripma said that her hope is that students do not feel any shame in asking for help if they feel that something is off.
“This is very different from when I was in high school,” said Ripma “We never talked about mental health, it wasn’t a thing, when someone did speak up about feeling depressed, it was kind of like the Cheese Touch.”
Heavilin believes in this new and more direct approach to these topics. He said one thing he would like to see in the future is more representation of the mental health resources at Solon High School.
“What we’re hoping is that [conversations had in SOS] decreases the amount of students that feel alone,” Kosiorek said. “We want to build a community.”
The next SOS lesson will take place in FMP on Oct. 18.
