photo by: Gage Vota

Bellaire High School sophomore Rhianna Somerville, left, and junior Kameron Cox lead students, teachers and residents during the third annual Steps Against Suicide Walk and Run.

BELLAIRE — High school students, teachers and residents spent their Friday afternoon racing for a good cause.

The annual Steps Against Suicide Walk and Run was a 1.2-mile loop around downtown Bellaire, starting and finishing at Union Park next to Bellaire High School to spread suicide prevention awarness within the community.

Rebecca DiFabrizio, Bellaire High Spanish teacher and teacher liaison to student services, said the school’s students have really become invested with the event. The third-annual race is organized by the school’s peer-led Sources of Strength group.

The group focuses on a wellness wheel that has strengths such as healthy activities, spirituality, positive mentors and generosity. The students work on those objectives listed on the wellness wheel throughout the school year. They do that by offering programming and campaigns, such as organizing the race.

“The students have been working on campaigns in the school to raise awareness about suicide and help influence each other to lean on positive friends and healthy activities and just stay positive,” DiFabrizio said.

The group has roughly 25 peer leaders, students that make it a priority to be a listening ear for their fellow students.

“We’re trying to keep positive mindsets, positive attitudes, positive friends, family, and just try to keep everything positive,” Bellaire High School senior peer leader Graham Campbell said. “I feel [Sources of Strength is] important, because being in this group allows you to reach out to different people in the school that you normally wouldn’t reach out to or talk to. This group’s ringing everyone together.”

He added that it is crucial if you or somebody you know is in need of mental health help to contact a mental health professional.

Dorothy Turner, East Central Ohio Educational Service Center prevention specialist and Sources of Strength adult advisor, believes the group allows students who normally wouldn’t interact to become friends while working towards a common goal of raising awareness for suicide prevention.

She added that, within the past decade or so, mental health has been less of a taboo topic, especially with the younger generation.

“It’s really important that people are talking about mental health concerns and suicide. Because when they do it normalizes the conversation a little bit more,” Turner said. “So, now, somebody maybe won’t feel ashamed or embarrassed. They may be more vulnerable, but they may be able to reach out easier if they know people are actually talking about it.”

She has noticed that kids are more apt to talk about their mental health on social media.

Social media is a double-edged sword when it comes to the mental health of teens.

Teens do express themselves more through social media but social media can also have negative effects on children.

In 2023, United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released an advisory that calls attention to the growing concerns about the effects of social media on youth mental health.

According to the advisory, 95% of youth ages 13-17 are using a social media platform, with more than a third saying they use social media “almost constantly.” Nearly 40% of children ages 8-12 use social media.

“There are increasing concerns among researchers, parents and caregivers, young people, healthcare experts, and others about the impact of social media on youth mental health,” as stated in the advisory.

Although social media is a mixed bag, Turner said that the Sources of Strength group has a TikTok account where the students create content geared toward spreading mental health and suicide prevention awareness.

The national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is 988 and is avaible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The third annual race saw Bellaire High Principal Ben Doyle take first place in the adult running category with special education secretary Amber Basich taking second place. Resident Blake Headen won first place in the adult walking category, with Chelsea Mayers winning second, and Wendy Ware won third.

Bellaire High junior Kai’jon Cerritos won first place in the youth running category with his sister, freshman Kyriana Cerritos, winning second place. Sophomore Jaz Mayer won first place in the youth walking category, junior Jeffery Finnicum won second place and sophomore Brenna Schrumph won third place.