By Staff Writer: Logan Tesmer
On April 26, The Howell High School girls varsity tennis team hosted a tournament to raise money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Representatives from AFSP were there handing out brochures and selling food and drinks to raise money for the foundation. Each coach of all four teams also donated enough money that all their players received wristbands. The varsity players from Howell wore blue shirts in support of the event and foundation.
Jeff Edwards was the man in charge of AFSP at the event. Edwards and his wife were there giving information about suicide in high school and statistics on suicide rates. AFSP is the largest organization in the nation for suicide prevention.
“Imagine a Malaysian airline going down with no survivors every other day… That’s the suicide rate these days, that’s about 200 to 300 people every other day.” Who said this
As Edwards gave his speech about suicide, all of the girls on the teams and the friends and parents there in support remained silent. Not a word was spoken as Edwards talked about the loss of his youngest child to suicide. His personal experiences put tears in nearly all of the players’ eyes. Edwards then explained that two percent of all high school students attempt suicide in their life.
Edwards’ emotional words and shocking statistics appeared to make an impact on the audienc. How one man could experience something so tragic in his life and then be able to stand up in front of anyone and tell his story is a true supporter for the cause.
The tournament was originally going to be a breast cancer awareness tournament like it is every year, but after the recent suicides at Howell High School, they decided to make it a tournament for suicide prevention. However, the change was made too late to order blue tennis balls for the matches, so they had to use the pink ones previously ordered for the breast cancer tournament.
Hartland High School ended up winning the tournament as a team, but there were a few gold and silver finishes by Howell tennis players.
Overall, AFSP raised $669 for all of the donations and sales during the day.
