Students at St. Peter’s Lutheran School are working to bring smiles and comfort to their fellow classmates through a new program.
The school has launched its Junior Hope Squad, a suicide prevention program, made up of 15 students in grades 4 to 6 who were nominated by their peers in the spring, said Violet Dickerson, St. Peter’s Lutheran School counselor.
St. Peter’s is the only Lutheran school in the nation with a Hope Squad and is the first of its kind at the elementary level in Indiana, Dickerson said.
Ivy Tech Community College has the only other Hope Squad in Columbus that was created in 2017 after the Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County provided a $10,350 grant to get the program started on the campus.
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The program, which originated in Utah after the death of a high school student in 1998, is now in more than 400 schools across the United States and Canada.
Members of the St. Peter’s Junior Hope Squad meet every Tuesday morning to receive training about how to be a good listener, self care, good secrets versus bad secrets and identifying someone who may want to harm themselves through body language and phrases, Dickerson said.
“They have lots of empathy and are very kind,” Dickerson said. “They have a heart to serve and they want to help other people.”
Dickerson said St. Peter’s wanted to bring a Hope Squad to the school after learning about the program being implemented in Utah.
Keziah Foster, a fourth-grader at St. Peter’s, said the group’s mission is to provide help to others who may not feel good about themselves.
“Hope Squad is God’s light shining for other people who may be in a dark place,” Foster said.
The students, along with advisers within the group, also plan monthly Hope Days, which are meant to provide a positive and welcoming atmosphere for individuals, fourth-grade student Trevor Ernst said.
St. Peter’s has held two Hope Days this school year, which have involved a large wall with positive messages on it and handwritten letters provided to every student.
The latest Hope Day on Nov. 28 featured students placing positive decal messages on the stairs of the building for others to see and welcoming their fellow classmates into the school.
Ernst said he wants to ensure that his fellow students have hope during the school day.
“If you’re trying to learn when you’re super, super sad, you can’t concentrate when you’re learning,” he said. “We try to find the students that need the most help and let them know that someone cares for them and comfort them.”
Ernst also said he enjoys trying to help students who might be alone at lunch or during recess by talking and making them feel better regardless of their grade level.
“You can give a little hope to anyone with a smile or a hello,” he said. “When I see them smile, it brightens my day, too.”
Ernst also said one of the recent Hope Day in which students wrote 500 notes with positive messages such as “You Matter” and “You Are Unique” also had a lasting impact on fellow students.
“Just seeing a note for them just made their day,” Ernst said. “People still have those and have that reminder that they are unique, they are special and they matter.”
Ernst’s older brother, Tyler, is also active in the Junior Hope Squad. The sixth-grader said he works to try to find people who may be alone or having a bad day with a goal of turning their day around, especially if they have made negative comments or want to harm themselves.
“God has made them for a reason,” Tyler Ernst said. “They need to be around for a good purpose.”
He also tries to make everyone feel welcome as part of his mission with the Junior Hope Squad, he said. His involvement in the group has also allowed him to develop new friendships with students in other grade levels, he added.
“We’re pretty bonded together and like to make each other laugh,” he said.
Maddie Beyer, who is also in the sixth grade, said while she hasn’t encountered someone who has made comments about wanting to harm themselves, she noted that everyone makes mistakes in life and there is no reason for an individual to put themselves down.
She said she works to help people know that they are here for a reason through her involvement with the Junior Hope Squad.
Beyer said she and her fellow students wear Hope Squad T-shirts each Tuesday that has allowed the group to have a visible presence.
“You feel like a part of something … and you make others feel better about themselves,” Beyer said. “I try to be around people that you know care about you.”
Fifth-grade student Noah Palmer said when he was nominated to join the Junior Hope Squad this past spring, it was an opportunity for him to make a difference.
“It’s kind of good to see hope in a Hope Squad,” Palmer said.
Palmer also said he and the other 14 members within the group also share something in common with another.
“I feel like we all have a positive outlook on life,” he said.
However, monthly Hope Days allow the entire school to share hope with each other, Palmer said.
“It’s everyone showing it,” Palmer said.
Fellow fifth-grader Morgan Glick-Scott said she wants people to know that members of the Junior Hope Square are available as a resource. She was recently able to help a fellow classmate who was being bullied by getting him the help he needed, she said.
“I want them to know that we’re here … and if they have problems, they can go to us,” she said.
Dickerson said while the Junior Hope Squad is for fourth- through sixth-grade students, the school plans to get increase its membership from 15 to 25 next year with the addition of seventh- and eighth-grade students.
She said she is proud of the current group for their work, describing them as always eager to help others around them.
“You just know they’re going to go out and change the world,” Dickerson said.
That sentiment was shared by fifth-grade teacher Andy Montgomery, who also serves as an advisor to the Hope Squad. He described the 15 students as individuals who are not only empathetic, but are equipped to advocate for their classmates.
“We have found students who have a heart for service,” Montgomery said.
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Hope Squads are made up of students who receive training on how to be good listeners, with the ability to teach self-care and assist students who may be at risk of harming themselves by reporting situations to adults.
The school-based peer-to-peer suicide prevention program is now in more than 400 schools across the United States and Canada.
Source: Hope Squad website, hopesquad.com
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For more information on the Junior Hope Squad at St. Peter’s Lutheran School, contact school counselor Violet Dickerson by calling 812-372-1571 or e-mail [email protected].
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