CLEVELAND — It was a moment a year in the making.
Students who participated in the class "Youth for the Future" at Braden Middle School in Ashtabula were honored before Thursday's Cavaliers game for their efforts to combat school shootings and improve teenage mental health.
For the past year, students in a class titled "Youth for the Future" created a new way to market 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline number that replaced the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in July 2022.
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
"We want to change how people look at [988]," classroom adviser Joslin Seeds said last year. "It isn’t just suicide. It’s everything."
News 5 highlighted these young men last year as they pushed for more attention and more options to tackle teenage mental health.
The goal of the poster, which features a student wearing a hoodie, is to remind students that the lifeline can be used beyond thoughts of suicide, including for those thinking about committing a school shooting.
"It’s a really big issue," 8th grader Chase Morris said. "It’s skyrocketing and we need to save those people. It was a classroom project and it came from a small project to a very big thing and we’re saving lives."
Since creating the poster, the buzz at Braden Middle School started building.
"It’s in a lot of the school districts and you see it at the football games," 'Youth For The Future' teacher and mentor Sally Bradley explained. "It’s almost surreal that it’s happening."
During News 5's original report, students said their goal was to see their poster and message spread through platforms such as Snapchat, billboards and even the jumbotron at Cavaliers games.
As a result, Seeds said Thursday night marked a major milestone in their progress.
"It’s incredible," Seeds smiled. "We're accomplishing one of our dreams.
"Certainly, something for the highlight reel," said now 9th grader Sevieon Chapman.
"It means a lot," he said. "When we first made it, I didn't think anything of it. It’s just a poster that's going to go out like any other poster. I didn’t think it was going to get this far and be on the Cavaliers Jumbotron. It really means a lot to us."
"That’s something we did and helped change the world," Morris added.
Even though some of those students have moved on to the high school, students and teachers told News 5 their work hasn’t stopped. They're trying to help teens with mental health and prevent the next school shooting by sharing this poster, even receiving interest from districts out of state.
Clay LePard is a special projects reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on Twitter @ClayLePard or on Facebook Clay LePard News 5.
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