Stupid Liberals!
2016-02-18 01:35:57 UTC
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is launching
an investigation at Palo Alto's elite Henry M. Gunn High School
after two separate clusters of suicide struck the community.
A team of epidemiologic assistance specialists -- experts in
suicide prevention -- arrived in the area this week, the CDC
told The Huffington Post.
"The focus of this [investigation] is fatal and non-fatal
suicidal behaviors among youth in Santa Clara County during the
years of 2008 through 2015," the CDC said. "CDC has supported
previous epi-aids focused on youth suicide prevention. The field
visit will include reviewing existing data from multiple
sources, and meeting with local community organizations."
The school witnessed a first "suicide cluster" -- what the CDC
calls several suicides that occur in close succession -- between
2009 and 2010.
Five students or recent graduates from the school died by
suicide between May 2009 and January 2010 by jumping in front of
the Caltrain commuter train, according to a report from the Palo
Alto Unified School District. A sixth hanged himself during this
period, The Atlantic reported.
Four more teens, some of whom were Gunn High School students,
also died by suicide in what's called an "echo cluster," or
secondary cluster, between 2014 and 2015.
Twelve percent of high school students in Palo Alto surveyed in
the 201314 school year reported having "seriously contemplated
suicide in the past 12 months," according to The Atlantic, and
42 Gunn students were hospitalized for having suicidal thoughts
in the first part of the 2015-2016 academic year.
Gunn, which is highly ranked and consistently sends kids to top
colleges like Stanford, is actively looking for ways to minimize
these occurrences.
"While we already have considerable prevention efforts in place
including active monitoring of at-risk students, extensive
counseling, our student Reach Out, Care, and Know organization,
homework monitoring, and professional development efforts with
teachers, we have plans to do more in the areas that directly
link to student social emotional health," Superintendent Max
McGee said to parents last year.
Gunn principal Denise Herrmann is also figuring out ways to
minimize stress in students' academic lives. She reorganized
class schedules so that students attend fewer classes per day,
she told ABC News, and is making sure the school offers
techniques to reduce stress, like yoga and one-on-one counseling.
NBA star Jeremy Lin even responded to the disturbing suicide
news shaking his hometown in an emotional Facebook post. A
classmate and a friend of his died by suicide while he was a
student at Palo Alto High School, he wrote. Lin, too, often
experienced the pressures that the rigorous system places on
high-performing students.
"I realized that even though there was pressure to be great, I
had a personal choice not to define myself by my success and
accomplishments. I learned through my brother, my pastor and my
friends that my identity and my worth were in more than my
grades," he wrote.
Suicide contagion among teens and young adults isn't a problem
that afflicts Silicon Valley exclusively. The CDC has also
investigated incidents in two counties in Delaware, as well as
in Fairfax, Virginia, where it found that 72 percent of youth
suicides exhibited previous mental health problems.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/palo-alto-school-
suicides_us_56c47124e4b08ffac1271065
an investigation at Palo Alto's elite Henry M. Gunn High School
after two separate clusters of suicide struck the community.
A team of epidemiologic assistance specialists -- experts in
suicide prevention -- arrived in the area this week, the CDC
told The Huffington Post.
"The focus of this [investigation] is fatal and non-fatal
suicidal behaviors among youth in Santa Clara County during the
years of 2008 through 2015," the CDC said. "CDC has supported
previous epi-aids focused on youth suicide prevention. The field
visit will include reviewing existing data from multiple
sources, and meeting with local community organizations."
The school witnessed a first "suicide cluster" -- what the CDC
calls several suicides that occur in close succession -- between
2009 and 2010.
Five students or recent graduates from the school died by
suicide between May 2009 and January 2010 by jumping in front of
the Caltrain commuter train, according to a report from the Palo
Alto Unified School District. A sixth hanged himself during this
period, The Atlantic reported.
Four more teens, some of whom were Gunn High School students,
also died by suicide in what's called an "echo cluster," or
secondary cluster, between 2014 and 2015.
Twelve percent of high school students in Palo Alto surveyed in
the 201314 school year reported having "seriously contemplated
suicide in the past 12 months," according to The Atlantic, and
42 Gunn students were hospitalized for having suicidal thoughts
in the first part of the 2015-2016 academic year.
Gunn, which is highly ranked and consistently sends kids to top
colleges like Stanford, is actively looking for ways to minimize
these occurrences.
"While we already have considerable prevention efforts in place
including active monitoring of at-risk students, extensive
counseling, our student Reach Out, Care, and Know organization,
homework monitoring, and professional development efforts with
teachers, we have plans to do more in the areas that directly
link to student social emotional health," Superintendent Max
McGee said to parents last year.
Gunn principal Denise Herrmann is also figuring out ways to
minimize stress in students' academic lives. She reorganized
class schedules so that students attend fewer classes per day,
she told ABC News, and is making sure the school offers
techniques to reduce stress, like yoga and one-on-one counseling.
NBA star Jeremy Lin even responded to the disturbing suicide
news shaking his hometown in an emotional Facebook post. A
classmate and a friend of his died by suicide while he was a
student at Palo Alto High School, he wrote. Lin, too, often
experienced the pressures that the rigorous system places on
high-performing students.
"I realized that even though there was pressure to be great, I
had a personal choice not to define myself by my success and
accomplishments. I learned through my brother, my pastor and my
friends that my identity and my worth were in more than my
grades," he wrote.
Suicide contagion among teens and young adults isn't a problem
that afflicts Silicon Valley exclusively. The CDC has also
investigated incidents in two counties in Delaware, as well as
in Fairfax, Virginia, where it found that 72 percent of youth
suicides exhibited previous mental health problems.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/palo-alto-school-
suicides_us_56c47124e4b08ffac1271065