Campus

AFSP to host campus walk to raise suicide awareness

The American Federation for Suicide Prevention will host a campus walk at 9 a.m. Saturday at Lynn Eusan Park.

The walk was started three years ago when members of the Greater Houston Chapter of AFSP were looking for a university to host the event approached Kathy Zerda, director of the Program for Mastery in Engineering Studies in the Cullen College of Engineering.

“Since PROMES is a large student success community, I knew my students would be up for the challenge,” Zerda said.

Registration and check-ins for the 2.5 mile walk start at 8 a.m. and the event is open to the public. A brief remembrance program will follow the walk.

The event is to bring awareness to depression and suicide. For Zerda, it has personal meaning.

“I took it on because I lost my own 24-yr old son to suicide in 2006.  I knew nothing about suicide before that event, and as a university professor I wanted to make students aware of issues related to suicide and depression,” Zerda said.

“Since the first UH Campus Walk in 2010, our university community has lost friends and family to suicide, and participation in the Walk has spread well beyond the Engineering student community. We get great support from students of all majors, from the UH Counseling and Psychological Services team, and many faculty and staff.”

For more information about the campus walk, go to www.afsp.donordrive.com/event/UH/.

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2 Comments

  • i've been crying in the hallways and making gun shot to the head motions with my fingers for years now and no one cares 🙁
    uh is a bad place to be depressed.

  • If that's true, maybe you should visit the Counseling and Psychological Services department. I'm sure that someone there would be happy to help you.

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