“Out of the Darkness” walk for suicide awareness

Into the light

The“Out of the Darkness” walk at Springfield College raised suicide awareness for students across the country.

____ By Carley Crain ____ @carley_crain12

Kristina Krull had a contagious energy to her. Curious, determined, and hardworking, Krull established herself as an exceptional student-athlete on both the women’s lacrosse and field hockey teams at Springfield.

But two years after graduation, Krull was gone.

“We heard a personal story of a teammate of a former women’s lacrosse player for Springfield College who took her own life a few years after graduating,” said Minds in Motion president Aly Coyle. “It was very empowering to hear this story and I think it is important to spread messages about this. It’s okay to not be okay, and even the most ‘successful’ people can be struggling.”

Suicide amongst college students has plagued communities across the country hard– this year especially. Name after name, headlines of suicides cram the news and social media. Springfield College isn’t excluded from these numbers.

Phillip M. White, an 18-year-old at the time, passed away in 2011 from self-inflicted injuries and was found unconscious by his roommate in Massasoit Hall. His death was sudden, and cast a long-lasting somber sentiment across campus.

A tribute to Springfield College alum Kristina Krull. (Carley Crain/The Student)

In recent national news, suicides amongst student-athletes have been on the apparent rise; NEWMAC opponent Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), for example, has had an alarming amount of student deaths on campus since July. According to Boston.com, seven deaths have been reported, five of them being either confirmed or apparent suicides.

WPI students have noted that the immense academic pressure and the science-focused environment has pushed many to their breaking points. The Springfield College Counseling Center is aware of the impact suicide has on college-aged students. For the first time in three years, the counseling center hosted its annual “Out of the Darkness Walk” in Blake Arena. When students walked into the gymnasium, they were invited to take a colored bead of their choice that best represents their connection to suicide. Nine colors were offered: white (loss of a child), red (loss of a spouse or partner), gold (loss of a parent), orange (loss of a sibling), purple (loss of a relative or friend), silver (loss of a first responder/military), green (a personal struggle or attempt), blue (supporting suicide prevention), and teal (a friend or family member of someone who struggles or has attempted). To begin the evening, community members read poems and small posters about how suicide has affected the Springfield College community. Photographs of Krull were displayed. Staff members additionally spoke after about the subject matter, before asking the crowd to take a silent walk around the perimeter of the gymnasium.

Stations were set up as well that was a representation of each colored bead. Staff members encouraged the crowd to speak up about their experiences with each color if they felt comfortable doing so.

“Walking around to the different tables with beads representing different losses one has experienced with suicide was indeed emotional,” said Coyle. “Suicide has affected far too many people, but it was very important that people were willing to step up and take ahead as this helps reduce the stigma.”

The counseling center hopes that with continued awareness and events on campus, lives can be saved. Even just one life makes all the difference.

If you are in need of help, the Springfield College Counseling Center can be reached at (413) 748-3345. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline phone number is 800-273-8255.

A true fashion statement

On Wednesday, April 27, Springfield College students wore jeans to stand with survivors of sexual assault as part of an ongoing tradition on the last Wednesday of April every calendar year.

___ By Jacques st. Jean ___ @jacsaintj

The average Springfield College student does not wake up for class in the morning and put on a pair of denim jeans. They usually stick to the sweatpants and t-shirt combo, a comfortable “uniform” for the athletic atmosphere of the school.

But on Wednesday, April 27, denim jeans were purposefully worn by students across campus. Denim Day occurs on the last Wednesday of April every year to recognize and stand with survivors of sexual assault.

The history of this day can be traced back to the year 1998 in Italy, where an 18-year-old girl was raped by her 45-year-old driving instructor. One year after the incident, the verdict of the case was overturned. The perpetrator had appealed their case, and the jury deemed that the sexual contact with the girl was consensual because her jeans were so tight she needed help taking them off.

The following day, hundreds of Italian women showed up to their respective jobs wearing jeans as a form of silent protest for the nonsensical decision to overturn the case.

Senior Nora Fitzgerald helped organize the festivities held in the Campus Union. As the sexual and gender-based misconduct educator in the Title IX office, Fitzgerald believes the annual day of protest is an important one for the Springfield College community.

“Denim Day is a protest against the idea of rape culture and things that promote rape culture like victim blaming,” she stated. “It’s a day to support victims or survivors, and really try to make some preventative efforts in the future too.”

Since her arrival on Alden Street in 2018, Fitzgerald has immensely enjoyed the overall aspect and empowering aura of Denim Day. “I’ve always really enjoyed Denim Day here,” she expressed. “It’s a very serious topic, but I think that it’s really nice to see people interacting with it in such a positive way.

“I really like that we get so many people involved with it, because it’s so important, honestly, to talk about, especially on a college campus. I think that more people should be aware of the resources they have and be aware of what we can do at Springfield to support students,” Fitzgerald said.

Denim Day at SC was a collaborative effort between over 10 organizations and clubs on campus, such as Public Safety, Art Club, Athlete Ally, BirthPlace Studios, BSU, CAB, NSSLHA, OneLove, SGA, SSBD, Student Advocates for Wellness and the Y-Club.

Vice President of the Art Club, Nikki Connello, was present with a variety of denim patches, paint, and a hot glue gun. Students were offered to paint an empowering message or a symbol on a denim patch, and glue it to a pair of denim jeans to be on display for all members of the Springfield College community, as a way to stand in solidarity with the unspoken survivors of sexual assault on our campus.

“I think Denim Day is a good opportunity to break the stigma that a lot of people go through in having to talk about [sexual assault] and bring it up,” Connello shared.

A pair of jeans being decorated with meassages for Denim Day. (Carley Crain/The Student)

“Oftentimes, a lot of these cases can be dismissed, and this is kind of a day where we’re fighting back and saying, ‘Your voice matters.’”

Denim Day is certainly a day that can give a voice to those who feel voiceless, or even a lending ear to those who feel unheard. One student -- a survivor, who wishes to remain anonymous -- was assisting Connello at the table, and felt a true sense of empowerment and love from the students who shared their support.

“As someone who has experienced sexual assault, it’s really hard,” the student said. “It’s nice to see a group of people coming together to show their awareness of this… it’s really nice to see everyone showing support.”

If you or someone you know at Springfield has experienced any form of gender-based misconduct, head to pridenet.springfield.edu/ICS/Offices/ Concerned_About_a_Student/ to fill out a Title IX report, or springfield. edu/titleix/get-help to see what Springfield College can do to help.

The experience of a lifetime

A group of 10 members from the YMCA Club will head to South Dakota this May.

The mission at Springfield College – which is represented by a maroon upside down triangle – is valued in a number of the campus organizations. The Alternative Break Club, Best Buddies and Habitat for Humanity are just a few of the many clubs that take the College’s values into action by serving others.

The YMCA Club is another organization on campus that helps the surrounding community. This year alone, the club made appreciation bags for the workers at the Forest Park Zoo, hosted a meeting to explore gender identity and expression and collaborated with other groups on campus to host a Treat Fest for kids in the surrounding area.

Although the school year ends on May 10, the mission for the YMCA Club continues. This summer, members of the organization will be helping others outside of the Springfield community. From May 22-29, seven Springfield College students will join the YMCA Alumni National Service Project in Dupree, S.D.

The goal during that time is to partner with the Sioux YMCA and build a tiny home for local members of the community.

“I’ve always been passionate about serving in different communities,” Kyla Boyns ‘21 said.

Before Boyns graduated with her bachelor’s degree in sociology, she served as the Co-President of the YMCA Club with Springfield College senior Allie Pisano-Stratton. Boyns is now working on her masters degree at Springfield in industrial organizational psychology.

During Boyns’ time in high school, she volunteered with Habitat for Humanity on a few day builds, therefore bringing a little bit of home building experience with her. But, this is her first time going on a weeklong trip where the main focus is to build a house everyday.

“I’ve never been on one of these trips before, so I’m super excited,” Boyns said.

The YMCA Club’s partnership with the YMCA Alumni at the end of the school year is a common one. Their typical location is usually in the Dominican Republic, where they build multiple houses in a week’s time for a small village in Don Gregorio.

In fact, Boyns planned to go on that trip in 2020, but COVID-19 canceled the trip and international travel with the College hasn’t happened since. The last time the YMCA Club on campus took a group of students overseas was in 2019.

A huge advantage of going to the Dominican Republic was learning about a different culture. Thankfully, that aspect will not be ignored when the group travels to South Dakota.

The trip will allow these students to immerse themselves in the customs of the Lakota Tribe, a group of Native Americans who currently live in North and South Dakota.

“We have a whole cultural aspect of it, which I think is incredibly important whenever

__ By Collin Atwood __ @collinatwood17

The YMCA Club will be building these tiny homes during their trip to South Dakota. (Photo Courtesy of the SC YMCA Club)

you go serve anywhere,” Boyns said. “Making sure you pair service with that cultural aspect is what I’m most looking forward to.”

This trip is a week long, but the YMCA Alumni will be continuing the work even when the student-volunteers return home. This tiny home project in Dupree will take years to complete and the College’s partnership with the Sioux YMCA is one that will hopefully last for the foreseeable future.

“The point of service isn’t just to go in and say, ‘we’re helping you for a week and we’re leaving, bye,’ it’s also learning about the people that you’re going to serve, learning how you can help the people and then continuing that on after you come back,” Boyns said.

While most of the trip is focused on building the Tiny Homes, the students will get a day to explore the area. They will get the chance to hike at Badlands National Park, explore the Needles Highway at Custer State Park and get up close to the faces at the Mt. Rushmore National Monument.

“It’s pretty much just going to be a tour of the area which I’m also really looking forward to,” Boyns said.

The students will be joined by Springfield College President Mary-Beth Cooper, Vice President for Inclusion and Community Engagement, Calvin Hill and Assistant Director of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and YMCA Relations, Ben Morales.

The 10 members of the Springfield College community heading toward South Dakota this May are going to have the experience of a lifetime.