Two students within the Fairfax County community died a day apart this week. On Monday and Tuesday two 17 year old males were found deceased. Both the boys were only Juniors, aiming to graduate in 2016.
Many Langley students dressed in black Wednesday and left mementos, flowers and candles makeshift memorial in front of the McLean school. Students who gathered there embraced tearfully. Both students had been popular atheles at the school.
For those who may not remember, South Lakes had it’s own tragic incident in the beginning of the school year, September 24th to be exact. Along with last year at around the same time, Langley mourned the death of two more students, Timmy and Alex.
Personally, I’ve attended both the South Lakes Vigil for Emma Clark and the Langley Vigil for both Timmy and Alex.
How many studens must we lose before something changes? In the past year alone Fairfax County has dealt with 10 students who’ve committed suicide. In the year 2011 there was a total of 4 suicides in Fairfax County, along with 4 in 2012 and 2 in 2013.
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/living/healthhuman/reports/suicide-in-fairfax-county.pdf
So now the question is, what is Fairfax County doing to ensure their students know that they have another way out? What are we doing to let them know that there are indeed people who are willing to and would love to listen and help? Below is a link to Fairfax County’s suicide prevention website.
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/csb/prevent-suicide/
marielena0221 • May 8, 2015 at 2:05 pm
I agree, I think Fairfax County should offer more psychiatric help to schools, but sometimes schools help is not enough and parents should know the signals in their own children so they can help them.
Suicide is more common than it was before, people should be more aware of the little small signals one person can give them.
YoungWolf • Apr 20, 2015 at 2:21 pm
i think now a days suicide is common, specially on young kids, they think its cool to talk about and put things on the media, mostly to get attention. i think the kids that are really suicidal do not really talk about suicide and just do it.
bunbun • Mar 20, 2015 at 10:35 am
Schools need to realize that mental illnesses are no joke. I’ve been diagnosed with a couple mental illnesses and they make everyday a struggle for me. Depression and other illnesses are a hard topic to talk about but i feel that staff in schools need to realize many students suffer from them and need someone to talk to. I know i do but it is difficult for others to understand.
Devran019 • Mar 20, 2015 at 8:38 am
People who commit suicide for nothing think that it is the best solution but they are just playing with their life and losing the game of life which is not right.
Infumous • Mar 10, 2015 at 5:55 pm
There is nothing that we can do about these kinds of situations besides hope that history doesn’t repeat itself. Most of these suicides take place because students do not know how to treat one another.We need to change the way we treat eachother in order to make the world a better place. Otherwise, this will keep happening.
oceanmtnsky • Mar 10, 2015 at 6:08 pm
I agree. Part of learning how to treat each other relates very much to how we learn to treat ourselves.
JamillaGarnett • Mar 9, 2015 at 12:57 pm
i wish teens didnt think that suicide was there only way out of there probelms. I wish that they could at lease reach out to someone to let them know there having probelms. its never good to hold on to something bad its always good to just let and express what how you feel inside. I wont blame fairfax county for these actions i blame parents for not wanting to take that extra step and check on there children to see if there do okay or if anything is bothering them.
Nick07 • Mar 8, 2015 at 7:11 pm
Fairfax boosts suicide awareness but people don’t think they need help when they actually do. Its unfortunate that this happend. I think every kid at school should meet with counselors mandatory if the teacher sees a change in the kid, that isnt positive. Talking about stuff can help alot. Maybe they had underlying problems and needed to talk to a conselour for advice with a problem they were going through or depression.
lex • Mar 3, 2015 at 5:30 pm
There’s nothing more I wish than there actually being a “suicide prevention”. Don’t get me wrong, I believe there are ways to help those with depression or whatever it may be that could lead to suicidal thoughts, but sometimes that’s not always enough….someone must be in serious pain to feel that the only way is out is by taking their life away. Honestly, just always be a good friend and remind whoever that you love them and appreciate it them every day.
Jeeper4Life • Mar 3, 2015 at 2:29 pm
i agree with you, Fairfax County needs to find ways to prevent students committing suicide. i think one way is that a student needs to meet with their counselor twice a quarter as mandatory and just talk to them if their having troubles in school or outside or any other problems. then have teacher talk about depression and suicidal in class about its dangerous and there’s help, teacher gets more involved with student so they can see if a student is acting more differently.