The semicolon being used as a symbol for suicide awareness was popularized in 2013, when Project Semicolon was started as a way for people to express their struggles while choosing to persist. The semicolon was chosen as the symbol because it is used to continue a sentence that you could have ended. Although the semicolon is primarily a symbol used for surviving a suicide attempt, it has been used to signify overcoming other challenges like domestic violence, substance abuse, and other mental health issues.
“The semicolon symbolizes being a survivor because people don’t really take notice of people who have attempted suicide. They take notice to the people who have attempted and have been successful with it, more than the people that have attempted and are still here.” Anonymous Student said.
How people can help:
- Know the signs, have you noticed somebody..
- spending excessively
- giving away possessions they love
- suddenly seem very energetic
- caring less about responsibilities
- abusing substances
- hurting themselves or others
- sleeping excessively
- threatening to hurt themselves or others
- Research for those you care about. There are lots of resources about mental illness and suicide. Suicide is preventable
- Listen when people talk about suicide, take them seriously
![Working on a project, sophomore Skyler Hansen examines one of the walls. Hansen explained that Geometry and Construction is usually divided up between two periods. “You do an hour of either geometry or construction, depending on what the teachers want to do at the beginning. Then the next hour, you do whatever you didn’t do in the first hour,” Hansen said. “In geometry, you’ll learn a specific set of [information], and in construction, you use that after you learn the geometry.”](https://www.fsfreepressonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Roust_GeoinCon8_27_24-3-1200x800.jpg)
