WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1896 www.thesunflower.com
Oct. 5, 2023
Volume 128 Issue 7
RUN TO REMEMBER
After crossing the finish line together, Kate and Matt Anthony kiss at the Suspenders4Hope 5k. Kate won second place in the women’s 40-49-year-old category of the race, while Matt won second in the 50-59-year-old category for the men. | Photos by Mia Hennen / The Sunflower
Suspenders4Hope 5k and Memorial Walk highlight hope and destigmatization of mental health BY TALIYAH WINN
T
tmwinn03@gmail.com
he Suspenders4Hope 5k and Memorial Walk is an annual event that gathers community together to bring awareness to mental health and celebrate the lives and memory of those who have lost their life to suicide. The run was a collaboration with Suspenders4Hope and StopSuicideICT, presented by Ascension Via Christi and the Steve Clark YMCA. Suspenders4Hope is a campaign focused on destigmatizing mental health with a hope-centered approach to improve community wellness. Marci Young, WSU director of Health, Outreach, Prevention and Education (HOPE) Services, and Jessica Provines, assistant vice president of Wellness at WSU, co-created Suspenders4Hope in 2015 after receiving a SAMHSA Campus Suicide Prevention grant for a mental health awareness campaign. “Each human is so important to so many more people than they would ever believe. And if we knew
how important we were to everyone around us, we would never think of anything less than ourselves than the magnificent human beings we are,” Young said. The 3rd annual 5k began at the YMCA, with runners lined up waiting. WuShock sounded the air horn, and the Shocker Sound Machine played the runners off with blaring horns to “Tank!” the opening theme to the show “Cowboy Bebop.” The runners set off at a steady pace, passing through an inflatable arch as they embarked on their brief journey across campus. Runners of all ages participated in the event, and the award ceremony had various categories to highlight those who participated at different age levels. Many runners were involved in the Wichita State community, working on and around campus. Two runners, Gabrielle Meyer and Chase Brand, started running together around a year ago and decided to participate in the race because it was a good cause. Brand, who works at NetApp, said that he and his coworkers ran to support someone who died at his office. Jake Dunne, KWCH meteorologist, shared his story of
Audra Morgan hugs her 10-year-old son after the pair complete the Suspenders4Hope 5k. Morgan won third place in the race’s 40-49-year-old, female category.
losing his father and the process of acceptance with the audience after the award ceremony. “You know those that make the choice, and if that might be you or someone you know, get help. Someone loves you. Someone cares about you. Somebody needs you,” Dunne said. “And then there’s the other side. The side that was left behind, like myself, you know, it hurts. It’s hard.” He highlighted the important role counseling played in his grief, and how hard it is for survivors of loss. “You have questions, you don’t know where to go. You don’t know how to handle the emotions. I didn’t, and I don’t wanna say I lost 10 years of my life, but I definitely had 10 years and I wish I could do over,” Dunne said. The race was followed by a one mile memorial walk. Community members gathered and walked around campus, honoring and remembering those that they have lost. If you or anyone you know are struggling with mental health, recovery is possible, and there are local and national resources available.
David Albarracin, 26, smiles as he crosses the finish line of the Suspenders4Hope 5k on Sept. 30.
MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES • If you’re concerned about yourself or someone else on campus, consider submitting a CARE Team report to ensure campus members’ needs are being met so they can reach their full potential. • CAPS offers low-cost appointments for individual, couples and group therapy to WSU students. • For information on substance use and recovery resources, visit KMUW’s list at www. kmuw.org/2023-09-19/ substance-use-resource-page. • The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a trained listener, call 988. • Crisis Text Line is a texting service for emotional crisis support. To speak with a trained listener, text HELLO to 741741. It is free, available 24/7 and confidential.
Members of the Shocker Sound Machine perform “ Tank!” which is the opening theme for the anime “Cowboy Bepop.” The band played throughout the Suspenders4Hope 5k on Sept. 30.
‘Make your place in the world’: Author discusses community, imposter syndrome and taking chances BY AINSLEY SMYTH
ainsley.smyth3@gmail.com
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes addressed first-year students at this year’s Academic Convocation. The author of Wichita State’s Common Read selection, “My Broken Language,” Hudes is also the writer of the script for the Broadway musical “In the Heights” as well as the screenplay for the play’s 2021 film adaptation. The convocation program featured a Q&A session between Eiran Saucedo-Rodarte, assistant director of first-year programs and Hudes. This followed an introduction by WSU President Rick Muma and speeches by Student Government Association President Iris Okere and Sara Mata, executive director of Hispanic Serving Initiatives.
Saucedo-Rodarte asked questions submitted by first-year students. The discussion centered around Hudes’ career, personal inspirations and her memoir. Hudes explained how she had planned on building a career in music but instead found herself called to writing. She said that an interview with her uncle, a Vietnam War veteran, as part of her research for a play had shown her the value of her work. “Whatever happened with the plays – whatever prizes they got, whether they went to Broadway, if they got good reviews – that didn’t even matter anymore,” Hudes said. “The ability to have a process that can make a connection like that, I knew I had chosen the right path.” Hudes also highlighted the importance of her family and their local Puerto Rican community in
her life, as well as how she navigated difficult topics in her writing. “I think the memoir is a really good example of what happens when I’m trying to do an act of love and healing within my community, but it also brings up taboo subjects,” she said. In particular, discussing the subject of illiteracy within her community was difficult for Hudes when writing “My Broken Language.” “I was so terrified because some of my family members still deal with illiteracy,” she said. “They’re embarrassed. They don’t want that to be broadcast to the world. But by the same token, without advocating for the need, the need never gets addressed.” To Hudes, taking risks in her writing is worth it and reflects the risks taken by others in her
community, especially those who immigrated to the United States. “Talk about a tremendous leap of faith that our parents, our grandparents or our ancestors, or that we ourselves took,” she said. “There is no bigger leap of faith than that; there is no bigger abandoning of a community than that. We make ourselves lost to come here, to come to the United States. And yet, we expand the circle of who our community is.” After the Q&A session, Hudes added her own advice for the students in attendance on dealing with imposter syndrome. “There’s no place in the world that you fit in that’s made for you,” she said. “Your job is to make your place in the world.” Hudes referred to the labor activist Dolores Huerta and an instance in which Huerta
challenged derogatory language toward women in a meeting of labor advocates. “Dolores was the only woman there when they were organizing these farm events,” she said. “She was the only woman in these rooms, so she didn’t really belong in those rooms. You belong in the rooms where you are, but you have to figure out how.” Health sciences major Alice Ukoha attended the signing and said Hudes’ answers were motivating to her as a first-year student. “Her words are inspirational, especially talking about walking your own path,” she said. “It’s hard to start in a new environment, and so it’s helpful to do stuff for you and not for other people.” The convocation was followed by a book signing. where students got an opportunity to meet Hudes.