CENTER – A suicide awareness color run took place on Friday morning, Sept. 13. The race began at the Center Viking Youth Club, 386 S. Broadway, Center. The race involved students from the Center Consolidated School District, and all that attended either ran or walked back to the Center Viking Youth Club.
There were snacks and water provided for the children. There was also a coffee truck selling coffee and hot chocolate. Center Police Department Chief Aaron Fresquez helped with the race and could be seen in the middle of the road guiding both children and traffic. When the kids returned to the club, colored chalk was thrown at each other to celebrate the completion of the race.
Center Viking Youth Club Director Carmen Pavlovsky spoke about the race and the STARS program of Center.
“We did the race in collaboration with the STARS program, which stands for Students Teaching About Relationships and Success. The STARS program puts on this race every year for suicide awareness and prevention. The person in charge of STARS is Camille Villa. She is also the cross country coach, and her cross country kids are running, too. We all work together on this.”
Pavlovsky explained that the students that were in the race got a t-shirt. Most of the kids in the race were wearing the t-shirts. Children were excited for the race and began lining up shortly after 7 a.m. The t-shirts were colorful and stated that they were for suicide awareness.
Pavlovsky stated, “Our goal is to bring suicide awareness and to help kids feel comfortable in talking about it. Students do think about this, more than anyone realizes. We want the word ‘suicide’ to be normal in conversation for students. We want them to hear it, know what it means, and if they are feeling a certain way they can go to a counselor and tell them I am having these thoughts.”
Pavlovsky explained that the STARS program helps with this, too.
“So, we have students that are in STARS. We have high school students that are paired with middle school students, and we have mentors and mentees, so that they can look to them for advice. High school students can lean on each other. Everyone also has these adults that are there for them to go to. Our goal is for the students to know that they have trusted friends and people that they can go to for help. We have all these people together to help as a community to prevent suicide if anyone is having thoughts about it. Our main goal is to get these messages out there, with this run, too.”
Pavlovsky spoke about the Center Viking Youth Club.
“We meet every day, Monday through Thursday after school, and we are here all day on Fridays. We provide time for students here. We provide snacks, and different activities. We provide social emotional learning, we ride bikes and skateboards, we learn about making healthy choices. We have the kids help us make the snacks and make their own lunch. We do science projects and art projects. Also, depending on the time of year. A lot of the students that we have here, well their parents, might really need this space, because their parents might be working until five or six o clock, and they need somewhere for their kids to go. We try to provide education and food, but our number one goal is building relationships. We try to provide a safe, educational space and there is a tuition fee, but we do not turn the kids away if they don’t have the fee. We are also working on trying to provide transportation too. I feel the club and this run go hand in hand, because we are about building positivity and good relationships.”
Pavlovsky stated that she felt the race really went well and had a good turnout.
