Wheaton Students Create Award-Winning Message About Suicide Prevention

Suzy Gonzales seemed to have everything going for her. The always-smiling, 19-year-old was attending Florida State University on a full scholarship.

Then her smile disappeared. She became depressed.

Instead of confiding in loved ones, Gonzales turned to "suicide groups" online. The groups encouraged her to take her own life. On March 23, 2003, she did.

Gonzales' life and death inspired two Wheaton North High School juniors to tell her story to help others who may be contemplating suicide. Their work was a project for their government class.

Students Maura Hanley and Ally Royer wrote and produced a public service announcement to raise awareness about suicide prevention and a law that would prohibit Internet users from encouraging others to commit suicide.

Their efforts earned a national award March 1 from the Constitutional Rights Foundation, which recognizes students who create awareness about civic issues.

In March 2011, U.S Rep. Wally Herger of California's 2nd District introduced the Suzanne Gonzales Suicide Prevention Act to the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would make it a crime to support suicide over the Internet. Using the Internet to encourage a suicidal person to go through with suicide is considered legal as part of Americans' freedom of speech.

The students wrote in their project, "Persuading someone to commit suicide is parallel to the act of murder itself. It is necessary for our government to criminalize it and seek justice for those who partake in encouragement."

Hanley and Royer included in the PSA how suicide has affected local residents, including a police standoff that resulted in a suicide in Danada in 2008 and a suicide in Carol Stream in 2009, witnessed by students in two nearby schoolbuses.

Royer also recalled when a Wheaton Warrenville South student took his life last year. "A lot of kids knew him from here... I know there were a lot of kids who were affected with that," she said.

"It was really upsetting there are actually people out there that would actually encourage someone to commit suicide," Royer said. "It was shocking she would even consider that, and that she didn't go for help from her family or friends."

The students' teacher, Hayley Lotspeich, said the point of the project was for students to see that government can make a difference.

"A lot of times students get discouraged about the government and confused by what they hear... the point was for them to see how government can do good things," Lotspeich said.

The project is supposed to meet the following requirements, according to a District 200 press release: raises awareness by educating on a specific problem or issue; influences public attitudes by explaining the connection between the problem or issue and public policy; and promotes a specific civic action(s) to address the policy implications of the problem or issue.

"They (Royer and Hanley) were special because a lot of students picked really important topics, but there was a lot of firsthand benefit (for them) from solving the problem. They (Royer and Hanley) saw a problem that would help others—the motivation was really outside of them," said Lotspeich. "That was really impressive."