Boots for suicide awareness in Natrona schools
The Natrona County School District has accepted a grant to support mental health.
The $100,000 grant from the Natrona Collective Health Trust will allow the district to partner with the Jae Foundation to address student mental health.
The Jae Foundation's goal is to bring awareness to suicide and mental health. To get people more open to talking about mental health, the foundation provides cowboy boots to high school seniors. Along with each pair of boots, stories about suicide are shared to help students understand why it is important to check in on their friends and family. Ultimately, the goal is for the boots become a reminder of the message to check in on others.
The Jae Foundation has given boots to more than 2,000 seniors. Soon, Natrona County seniors will join that number.
The foundation also does teen outreach, gives out scholarships and hosts retreats and support groups.
Kelly Walsh senior Jackson Thomas addressed the district's board Monday about his experience with the foundation which began with a retreat in Pinedale.
"I've gotten a lot of suicide talks in my life going through high school, but nothing has stuck like this has," Jackson said.
His brother, Braxton, brought the issue back home to the board.
After stating that 10% of high school students have attempted suicide, a statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Braxton said, "10% as a high schooler in Kelly Walsh means that 200 kids within that small [school] have attempted suicide, which is alarming. It's scary."
The board also approved a $4,000 donation from the Central Wyoming Chapter of the American Petroleum Institute. The money is for helping homeless students within the district.
These funds were raised through a cook-off in February .
The board also accepted a $22,532 grant and a $10,000 anonymous donation.
The grant will be used to update the student-led coffee shop at the Pathways Innovation Center. The anonymous donation is for the band program at Kelly Walsh High School.
Allison Allsop is the education and health reporter for the Casper Star-Tribune. She can be reached at 307-266-0544 or . Her Twitter account is Love Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox.
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