Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance are supposed to be the five stages of grief that a person may go through following a loss, but many would disagree and claim they are experiencing a lot more emotions than the ones listed above. The loss of a loved one is extremely tragic and heart wrenching, that it can be hard to figure out where exactly one should go next.

The school district has come out with #whatadultsshouldknow in an effort to help address student’s grieving and further provide solutions, but even though the hashtag has surfaced, many students feel the district has not done enough to help us through our grieving.

“I personally feel that the district did not handle our grief very well. I understand they don’t want us to wallow, but you need to acknowledge student’s feelings and not discount them,” Gillan Aker, sophomore said.

While the district did not initially meet the needs of many students, they did provide suicide prevention assemblies that helped students come to terms with the tragedies that they occurred, and what they can do to prevent them. The assembly addressed suicide intervention misconceptions such as; “Only experts can help prevent suicide,” and “talking about suicide can make someone become more suicidal.” Both of these misconceptions were debunked, along with the warning signs of someone who is suicidal.

“The assembly was helpful and there were some good points on what to do in a crisis, however, they tell us how to help others, but not to help ourselves,” Aker said.

Getting the help you need is so vital in order to live a happy, healthy lifestyle. One of the ways to get help is to go to one of the school provided counselor or a trusted adult. Talking to someone about what you are going through can be the answer you have been searching for. While talking about what you have been through may not be easy, it can help us get through the hard times.

“Our student body right now needs to love on each other, be there for each other no matter another person’s history, and we need to talk to each other more,” Aker said.

As our district continues to try and help us, students are reaching out to let them know what they can actually do to help. The only way change can happen is through us letting the district know what we are going through.

“[The district] needs to know that our feelings get discounted a lot. Adults will say wait until you have a mortgage to pay and that’s when your feelings will seem to matter to them. Kids do not want to talk to people after they hear something like that,” Aker said.

Students, your voice and feelings matter. It is okay to feel confused, angry, sad or all of the above, because what you are going through is allowed to be expressed and is valid. You matter, never forget that.