[1]The sight of 1,100 backpacks strewn across Smith Mall on Wednesday was an eerie one — and rightfully so.
[2]Each backpack represented one of the 1,100 U.S. college students who commit suicide each year, and each bore a photo and bio of one of those victims.
“Send Silence Packing” is a traveling exhibition assembled by Active Minds, a national organization dedicated to raising awareness of mental health issues among college students. The local stop was coordinated by students from Active Minds’ UIndy Chapter [3], currently led by co-presidents Ashleigh Berman and Amanda McErlean, both Clinical Psychology [4] doctoral candidates in the School of Psychological Sciences [5].
Learn more about UIndy’s Active Minds here [3], and learn more about the national “Send Silence Packing” campaign here [6].
The Indianapolis Star stopped by to take this photo [7].