Highland principal Charles Shackett said he was uncertain about the exact sequence of events. Earlier that day, the 6-foot-4-inch junior had competed with the Ram's junior-varsity squad in a hard-fought loss to Viewmont. 1300 East.Thorell and five friends had climbed to the roof of the Sugar House school about 9:15 p.m. Teammate Shawn Thorell, 16, died Saturday morning from head injuries sustained in a fall Friday from the school cafeteria roof at 2166 S. “My fear is that kids don’t have the hope for the future or feel empowered to affect their own future.With a possible state tournament berth only weeks away, Highland High's boys' basketball team called off practice Saturday. “It looks like ‘everyone else is living a perfect life but me,’” she said. She is particularly troubled about the ways that social media fuels the problem. The best that high school students and their parents can hope for is that as middle schoolers move into ninth grade, they will bring the initiative’s tools with them.Īrnold, who has been with Highland Park ISD for 30 years, says the district’s growing concerns about the rise in suicide numbers reflect the reaction of schools nationwide. It’s also a shame that Highland Park High School hasn’t yet embraced the idea. It’s hard to imagine that any lesson could be more important than what is being taught to these Hope Squad members. Arnold told me that finding that much time in the schools’ packed day has been challenging. In contrast, some districts devote a regular class period to Hope Squad.
This semester, each group will meet in a 30-minute advisory slot every other week. Related: After her young teen’s death by suicide on a Plano ISD campus, this mom fights for change The curriculum’s bottom line is the same as for the middle school students: The importance of hooking up vulnerable young people with adults who can help. The intermediate school’s Junior Hope Squad, made up of about 30 fifth- and sixth-graders, focuses on basic mental-health themes such as why kindness and inclusion is important and how it feels to be left out. “Even when parents and school staff have excellent training on the warning signs, what’s missing is training for students.” Sally Conway, executive director of the foundation launched in her sister’s memory, told me that Hope Squad can fill a critical gap. The Loncar family, residents of Highland Park, lost 16-year-old Grace to suicide in late 2016. The Grace Loncar Foundation is responsible both for bringing the Hope Squad idea, which originated in Utah, to the district’s attention and providing about $10,000 for the counselors’ training. Gilbert also echoed what I’ve heard from other North Texas districts that have implemented Hope Squad: “We must equip the students because they are the ones who will really know what’s going on with other kids.” Students nominated the 30 members of the Hope Squad team, all seventh and eighth graders, because of their trustworthiness and “these kids feel a lot of responsibility,” he said. When I later described the young teens’ intense focus and savvy responses to middle school principal Jeremy Gilbert, he wasn’t the least bit surprised. Your job is to link these kids to adults who can get them help. Repeatedly, Arnold and co-trainer Christen Armer linked the lesson back to Hope Squad’s suicide-prevention mission: You are the eyes and ears of the school. During the candid 30-minute session, counselors reviewed the question-persuade-refer model for helping struggling students, then drilled into details of what trainer Margaret Arnold introduced as “some heavy stuff related to people who take their life.”
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