Pulse and the school’s counseling department are hosting another Redhawk Rant session on Wednesday during the advisory period with a focus on suicide in high school and suicide prevention.

“Over the years the increase in number of students experiencing suicidal ideation or actual completing suicide has really been increasing among teenagers,” counselor Staci Stokes said. “It’s just really important that we get this information out there in terms of making sure other students are watching out for their friends and of course making sure everyone knows how to report.”

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people ages 10-24 and the district mandated presentation will be shown throughout all FISD schools, but not all will be student led like the ones here on campus.

“We want these Redhawk Rants to be more discussion based so it’s actually allowing students to have these really important conversations with each other,” Stokes said. “It’s really important when these conversations are happening among students, so it’s not adults telling students what you need to do and what you need to say.”

A community event to offer information on suicide prevention will be held on Tuesday, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Board Rom at the Frisco ISD Administration Building.

“It’s absolutely essential to talk about suicide prevention since it’s so prevalent among today’s society,” senior Rishik Ram said. “The first step to acting upon this issue is to first address it. I feel like Redhawk Rant is a great platform to talk about issues that have a major impact on us. It lets us spread awareness about serious issues. We hope to strive for positive change, and the first step in doing that is through addressing the issue.”

Teen girls and boys are both at risk for suicide with teen girls more likely to attempt it, but teenage boys are four to five times more likely to die by suicide.

“We want to create a dialogue about suicide awareness,” Ram said. “Even if students don’t talk about it tomorrow, the topic will be something they will constantly think about. The information and resources they gain can be used in their personal lives in times of need in the real world.”

According to the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH), about 8 out of every 100,000 teenagers committed suicide in 2000. For every teen suicide death, experts estimate there are 10 other teen suicide attempts.

“Our primary goal is to spread awareness about suicide prevention,” Ram said. “We want to be able to show the signs a person would portray if they were think about committing suicide. We want to let them know who they can reach out to and the importance spreading kindness.”

The percentage of high school students who reported that they had thought seriously about committing suicide in the last year declined from 29 percent in 1991 to 14 percent in 2009. However, the percentage has increased since, reaching 18 percent in 2015.

“Pulse wanted to find more modern ways of getting students to interact with one another in regards to real-world problems,” Ram said. “At the end of the day, we are trying to develop a safe and positive school environment. Our future Redhawk Rants are made in an effort to support this motto. Hopefully, our efforts will help increase kindness, acceptance, and promote positivity among our students here at Liberty High School.”