The Dylan Lauwers Memorial Walk will be held on Sunday, May 19th at 6:00 p.m. The walk starts at Morehouse Park and will follow the trails all the way to Lake Kohlmier. It is open to the community and is a free event where all are welcome to participate.
Thriving Minds is hosting this event, they are a student organized group in their first year. The club was created by a group of students who wanted to do something about their friend passing away. They have put on many events in their first year including lantern lighting back in October and the Nuke’em tournament in January, both of which were a great success. Mr. Blechshmidt said, “We had about 200 students at our lantern lighting event in the fall and 150 students for the Nuke ‘Em Tournament/Mental Health carnival in the winter.” These were the two biggest events that Thriving Minds has put on this year.
The adviser of Thriving Minds Mr. William Blechshmidt. He said, “In today’s society, too many people struggle with feeling alone, isolated and hopeless; especially our young people.” This walk is being put on in order to spread awareness about suicide prevention. The community lost Lauwers to suicide back in April of 2020. Senior Maddie Walerius said, “We felt like we needed to do this walk to honor Dylan and the people in his life. We felt that a community walk would be perfect because it is catered to everyone no matter their age.”
The group is hoping that the event will help raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention. Mr. Blechshmidt said, “I am hopeful that our community shows up to support the mental health of our students and those who live in our community.” Their final event of the school year will be the walk. All the money that they raised throughout the year will go into this event. Walerius said, “Putting on this walk is important because it not only gives families who have lost someone to suicide a place to feel appreciated, it’s also a way to talk about mental health in our community.”
Shirts will be available at the beginning of the walk. Shirts will be free for all students who attend and $20 for adults.
