Since the Virginia Tech tragedy, 3 years ago today, all Virginia Higher Educational Institutions must convene a Violence Prevention Committee to find ways to prevent another ‘VA Tech’ at their campuses. This is mandatory via legislation after the Va Tech tragedy. What does this mean? With huge budget cuts and increased enrollment, higher ed professionals in Student Services must find a way to protect their students from this kind of tragedy.
A simple email to me last summer from my program lead, asked me to create a program that addressed ‘threat assessment management’ with my students. My first question was, can we call it something else? My next thought was how do I fund this and make it something students will attend. Luckily, I have a great network of community professionals that were ready and eager to take time from their busy schedules and help the community college students that we all serve. I called in my network and got a program together called “Wellness, Life’s Hard We’re There”. This program consisted of guest speakers to address topics such as: The Connectedness of Everything, Campus Safety, Suicide Prevention, Healthy Relationships, and Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness. I also, applied for a mini-grant and was approved for extra funding. I also asked my current students and college alum to be available for any students who need to talk about problems, knowing that this generation is more peer related than any other generation. I put together a brochure with local help hotlines and the peer’s information for students. This program was immensely popular and to my surprise found more students interested in becoming a mentor than ones who declared they needed help. I will never know how many individuals this program touched but I do know that this is the first of its kind in the Virginia Community College System that this simple program may lead to a new community ‘Wellness Initiative’ that brings local businesses and community leaders in to help students in the future and I am excited about this new endeavor. Stay tuned for how this comes together.
So out of tragedy, comes something positive.
