Two student-produced public service announcements highlighting suicide prevention efforts will air in local theaters beginning in early March.  The public service announcements were chosen from among those submitted to a contest co-sponsored by Gandhi Brigade Youth Media and Montgomery County’s LACSI workgroup (Leading Adaptive Change for Suicide Intervention) and are aimed at preventing teen suicide.  The winning PSAs will air at Regal and AMC theaters in Montgomery County through April.  All of the submitted PSAs will air on social media platforms and local cable channels. 

The winning PSAs were Get Help, submitted by Sophie Geiger, a Northwood High School student and See How You Can Help, submitted by Rowan Arnold and Jay Hutchins, Northwood High School students.  Runner up PSAs were submitted by Tommy Behrens (Poolseville High School), Joey Geehreng (Poolesville High School), Lara Ojha (Montgomery Blair High School) and ML Gentili, Morgan Lipansky and Sophie Nightingale Edwards (Hallie Wells Middle School).

“We know that teens often talk to their peers and value their perspective and that is one reason why teen ambassadors such as the students who submitted PSAs play an important role in bringing awareness to the issue of teen suicide,” said County Executive Marc Elrich and Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Jack Smith in a congratulatory letter to students. 

The BTheOne youth led campaign was launched in October 2017 and includes a website – www.BTheOne.org –of information on resources and ways to help others, which was designed by local high school student Ray Crist. 

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide is the second leading cause of death among school age youth. 

The video PSA submissions can be viewed on YouTube at https://bit.ly/2XnrxOR.