Lights for Life Event 2018
In Fall of 2018, I served as president for Balance at Kelley— a student club in the Kelley School of Business devoted to reducing the stigma surrounding mental health through education, awareness, and events. For our first year in action, we hosted a campus-wide event on World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10th that would not only raise awareness about what our club does, but— most importantly— about the shocking suicide rates on college campuses.
Lights for Life
This event entailed placing 1,100 paper bag luminarias in the arboretum— the center of IU campus— throughout the whole day to showcase a beautiful arrangement of lights by night. Students passing through were encouraged to decorate these paper bags with positive messages, statistics, and letters/memorials to those affected by suicide.
The event was organized by my 10 executive board members and I within 2 weeks. It included:
Renting out large, populated area of campus for over 12 hours
Ordering 1,100 paper bags and tea lights
Recruiting club members and members of like-minded organizations to volunteer
Marketing through social media, word-of-mouth, and Kelley newsletters
Raising awareness by inviting local radio, TV, and newspaper networks