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Wednesday, September 5, 2018
\'oLUME 44, Edition 9
Eton, North Carolina
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SHREDDING the narrative
Students still lack knowledge of mental
health resources and initiatives on
campus despite marketing push by Elon
Cammie Behnke
Eion News Network I @cdbehnke
J UNIOR CHLOE HULTMAN’S FIGHT
with mental health began at a young
age with depression, followed by a battle
with anxiety in high school and college.
“My own personal ties [to mental illness],
as well as seeing my friends in high school
who had depression and anxiety, just made
me realize how important it was and how
much it’s not really talked about,” Huitman
said.
Hultman’s experiences align with trou
bling mental health factors for college-age
adults. In 2016, a National Institute of
Health (NIH) study found people aged 18-
23 had the highest prevalence of serious
mental health issues compared to other age
groups. While the scope of those conditions
is broad, anxiety and depression are the
most frequent on colleges campuses. Elon
isn’t an exception. Huitman says everyone at
Elon struggles with mental health, whether
they want to acknowledge it or not.
Turning her pain into inspiration, she de
cided to become an advocate for something
she calls “the elephant in the room.”
See MENTAL HEALTH I pg 4
Ion students connected to Parkland tragedy enact their own change
students connected to the
rkland, Florida, shooting find their
ffl ways toward healing
exandra Schonfeld
n News Network | @aschonfeld096
Junior Brendan Duff’s brother, Daniel
uff, hid in a closet at Marjory Stoneman
>ouglas High School as shots were fired on
eb. 14,2018 as a school shooting unfolded in
; arkland, Florida.
Almost 800 miles
north at Elon, Bren
dan watched the
events unravel at
his old high school,
Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High
School, where his
brother was a fresh
man at the time.
“I was freaking
Dut,” Brendan said.
Daniel stayed hidden in a closet, leaving
bis phone unattended and unanswered.
Seventeen students and teachers were
killed that day, and while a country mourned
for the loss of yet another group of innocent
IASS SHOOTINGS
/larjory Stoneman
)ouglas High
)Chool was the
p9th mass shooting
in 2018 alone,
according to
gunviolencearchive.
nrg.
PHOTO COURTESY OF EMILEE MCGOVERN
(Left to right] Brendan Duff, Alex Wind, Bradley Thornton, Kirsten McConnell and John Barnitt participate in a
voter registration party in St. Petersburg, Florida, as part of the Road to Change tour.
people become victims of gun violence, two
Elon University students were mourning their
friends and classmates.
Lending a hand and stepping in
Daniel survived, along with Brendan’s “re
ally close friends” who still attended Stoneman
Douglas.
“I just went to bed feeling completely help
less,” Brendan said.
After speaking with his mother who was a
substitute teacher the next morning, she told
Brendan he needed to come home.
“She was like, ‘You just have to come back,
you just have to be here for at least the week
end.’ That’s the only push I needed. So, I drove
down immediately. It was a full 12 hours, but
I just went for it.”
During his drive to Florida, Brendan spoke
to friend Cameron Kasky, who is one of the
faces of the March for Our Lives movement,
of which Brendan is a co-founder.
The movement’s goal, outlined on their
website, says “The mission and focus of March
For Our Lives is to assure that no special inter
est group or political agenda is more critical
than the timely passage of legislation to effec
tively address the gun violence issues that are
rampant in our country. We demand moral-
ly-just leaders to rise up from both parties in
order to ensure public safety.”
Kasky had just secured an interview with
Anderson Cooper - it was barely two days af
ter the shooting, and Kasky was overwhelmed.
Brendan said that Kasky felt uncomfort
able with all the interview opportunities be
cause of the subject matter, but he felt that
people were starting to pay attention because
of the proximity of Parkland.
“It seems like every couple months or so,
another mass or school shooting pops up, and
See PARKLAND I pg 12
B NEWS • PAGE 6
jg; Elon history celebrated
with plaques
|g throughout campus
LIFESTYLE • PAGE 13
Mayor of Burlington
achieves dream of
obtaining pilot’s license
SPORTS • PAGE 14
Takeaways of Elon
football’s first game
in Tampa, Florida