Student Squad Brings Hope To BHS

In the last year, a new club called Hope Squad has been formed at Bourne High School. Hope Squad, created in 1997 by Gregory A. Hudnall, a high school principal, is aimed at suicide awareness and prevention, specifically in teens.

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The club’s origins stem from its founder’s personal experience, when he was assigned the task of identifying the body of a student who had died by suicide. Since then, Hudnall made it his mission to prevent that from happening again. Hope Squad was founded in Provo City, Utah, and has expanded to stretch across the country, reaching Massachusetts and, specifically, Cape Cod. Several Cape schools have a Hope Squad, including Bourne, Nauset, Barnstable and Falmouth.

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Elizabeth Boucher, a guidance counselor at Bourne High and one of the staff advisers for the student group, said the idea to bring Hope Squad to Bourne was sparked by a film she saw.

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“Hope Squad came to Bourne from the movie ‘Ascension,’” she said. “I saw the movie and decided we needed to bring the Hope Squad to BHS.”

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Hope Squad’s funding comes from a Nye Grant, Boucher said, with additional funding from Sharing Kindness, a Cape Cod nonprofit organization dedicated to “building a grief-sensitive, suicide-aware Cape & Islands community,” according to its website—a mission shared with Hope Squad itself.

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Hope Squad member Michaela Muldoon, a senior at BHS, said club members wear their Hope Squad shirts weekly “to allow other students to recognize who is a part of it and who they can go to if they ever need our help.”

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“I think word of mouth is also a big part of spreading what Hope Squad brings,” Michaela said. “Talking to anyone who doesn’t know what it is yet and simply making sure the members who are a part of it realize the dedication they need to make sure this program is successful.”

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Hope Squad members are nominated by their peers to join the club. Sean Kelley, also a senior, explained he was chosen by his classmates because he is “somebody who people are able to easily talk to.”

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“It’s important because a lot of students don’t feel comfortable enough to go to teachers about problems that they have, so it is important to me that I can be an outlet for fellow students to talk through their issues,” Sean said.

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Behind the scenes of Hope Squad, members have to be initiated in order to participate. Every year, freshmen receive a Google Form asking them to select three classmates they feel they can communicate with openly, connect with when feeling overwhelmed or need someone to talk to that will listen. From there, the selected students are invited to join Hope Squad. The voting process is meant to help ensure that students feel comfortable communicating with Hope Squad members so the organization can reach its full potential.

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“I want other students who are not in the program to understand that talking to someone isn’t embarrassing and that they are allowed to use their resources,” Michaela said. “I think having more students use the students and advisers to their fullest potential will allow the program to grow in so many ways.”

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Currently, Hope Squad in Bourne exists only at the high school, but both students and advisers hope to expand to other district schools. Boucher said the club participates at the Resource Fair and is “amping up” its Instagram presence to get more publicity in the community.

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“To bring Hope Squad district-wide, we have plans to go to all the other schools and give presentations on what Hope Squad is,” Michaela said, “and just allow the younger students to understand what Hope Squad is. I think by doing this, it could inspire the other schools to take initiative on the worldwide problem of mental health.”

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Boucher and the group are determined to continue their work toward district-wide awareness for the initiative, bringing ever more awareness to the club’s activities and the overall importance of mental health.

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“We are doing monthly activities and promoting Hope Squad on social media,” Boucher said. “Hope Squad brings awareness to kids who are struggling. Mental illness is so prevalent in adolescence and bringing awareness to it will help end the stigma.”

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Originally published at https://www.capenews.net/bourne/news/student-squad-brings-hope-to-bhs/article_61d9a4c5-337f-4e2f-b760-cd4db070d866.html