Students pick up suicide prevention goal

SANDPOINT — #YouMatter.

That’s the message at the core of a movement by this year's group of Design for Change sixth-graders are trying to start on social media as they continue the mission of their predecessors in Ann Dickinson's Washington Elementary elective. 

Following extensive and dedicated work on suicide awareness and prevention, last year's Washington Elementary Design for Change sixth-graders represented the United States at the organization's global "Be the Change" conference in Spain.

"So these kids are taking what the kids did last year and just taking it in a different direction," Dickinson said during last week's Rotary Club of Sandpoint meeting, as the students presented their project to the group. "They are doing a great job."

The Rotary Club, which made a generous donation to the group that went to Spain, heard from some of the students who went on the trip, followed by a presentation on what this year's group is doing.

"We are working on suicide prevention, and we found that mental illness is a leading factor," said sixth-grader Audrey Hewitt, who was joined by classmates Jett Longanecker, Saige Smith and Asia Shrestha.

Jett said the group, which includes 14 students, found out the North Idaho Crisis Center is the only mental health facility in the area, and it is located in Coeur d'Alene.

"We don't have a facility here, so police either have to give people a ride to Coeur d'Alene or put them in the ER," Jett said, adding that it costs a lot of money and doesn't get them the help they need.

In an effort to get more help for those with mental health issues in the Sandpoint area, Dickinson and some of the students are heading to Boise today to meet with Sen. Shawn Keough. The students did a lot of research, Dickinson said, and put together a presentation for Keough on mental health needs in the community.

The students said Spencer Smith, school resource officer with the Sandpoint Police Department, told them that giving people their 15 minutes can have a big impact. Saige said they did a candy cane kindness challenge. For the challenge, students attached notes to candy canes with words like, "You're appreciated," and "We are glad you go to our school." Sandpoint Middle School, as well as Hope, Kootenai and Northside elementaries participated in the challenge.

The kids also decided to start a clothing line with their #YouMatter movement. Jett designed the logo and said there is a heartbeat in between the words "you" and "matter." The clothing line will include T-shirts, sweatshirts and more, and will be available in the next couple of weeks. Dickinson said each year she learns something new with the DFC groups, and this year she gets to learn marketing.

Dickinson said she also began working with second-graders for the first time since she started teaching the DFC elective. During the conference in Spain, she was inspired by the 6, 7 and 8 year olds from Hong Kong who presented.

"They gave a great presentation," she said. "So it kind of planted this seed in my head that we need to do this with our younger kids, because if we get them thinking out of the box, get them problem solving and going it from a young age, by the time they get to me (in sixth-grade), their problem solving skills are going to be much better."

The second-graders started out by talking about things like different places in the community and what they like and dislike in the community. They ultimately decided to tackle two troublesome intersections outside the school. The intersections are "very unsafe," Dickinson said, and people park right in the crosswalks.

So the second-graders are working on a solution to make the intersections safer, which could include rainbow crosswalks, but that is yet to be determined.

"What I love about second-graders is they are so free in their thinking," Dickinson said. "They will put any idea out there ... So if we can keep that, cultivate that, it's going to be much better later on for these kids."

Dickinson's daughter, Jaden Dickinson, is a freshman at Sandpoint High School and is also working on a project in conjunction with the DFC groups. She told the Rotary members about the 7B Love Project she is doing with the First Lutheran Church youth group.

"Our problem that we are trying solve is hate going out in our community," she said.

Each day the group, using the hashtag 7B_Love, posts inspirational quotes to Instagram and Twitter, she said. The group is digging deep into questions such as what causes hate? what is the "root source" of hate?

They met with the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force, talking about fear, hate and love. The group has "big plans" for solutions to the problem of hate in the community, Jaden said, referencing the recent incident of the CDs loaded with racist propaganda that were left on the windshields of vehicles in the Sandpoint High School parking lot, and racist flyers in mailboxes around town.

"We decided we don't want that in our community," Jaden said. "Our community is based upon love and we just don't want that in our town."

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@Bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.