Members of Elon's club baseball team come together after the “Gathering of Friends” dedicated to their former teammate Breslin Wiley who died Saturday, Oct. 28.
STAFF EDITORIAL
Come together in the wake of tragedy
DIEGO PINEDA ICOFFTRIBUTOR
Two years ago, Elon News Net
work published an editorial following
the death of Elon University student
Demitri Allison. The piece opened
with, “There’s not a lot to say.”
Two years later, there still isn’t.
What do you say to someone who
lost their child, classmate, team
mate, brother or friend? There is
nothing any of us can say to make
Breslin Wiley’s passing easier. There
is nothing we can say in response to
this to make it any better. There is
no way for us to make sense of this
tragedy.
There is plenty, though, that we
can do for each other.
Wiley’s passing is the fourth
student death to shake Elon’s campus
in the last three years. After Trent
Stetler took his own life in January
2015, we were stunned. After Allison
died, we promised that we would
open conversations about mental
health on campus. Following Derek
Winton’s drug overdose in the fall of
2016, we wondered what more we
could do.
Now we are in the same situation
and we have to face the facts — stu
dent deaths are a strong possibility
on college campuses, including ours.
The sad reality is that we cannot guar
antee that this will not happen again.
It can, and it has, but we must do
whatever we can to try and mitigate
tragedies that are preventable.
We may not be able to heal, but
we can remember. We must remem
ber Breslin for his smile, his kindness
and his light.
Breslin Wiley was — and still
is — loved deeply by those who
knew him. He has been described by
his loved ones as a vibrant, caring,
positive young man and friend. You
may not have known him, but he
was a part of our community, and
his passing will inevitably leave an
irreparable hole in our campus and
our hearts. He was loved more than
he knew.
In the wake of his passing, it is
vital that we support one another in
our grieving. A tragedy like this can
bring up depression, anxiety and
general mental unwellness within
the community.
Each year, organizations at Elon
host events, forums and talks that
aim to shed light on the epidemic of
mental illness on our campus. Just a
few weeks ago, SGA hosted a Town
Hall discussing mental health. Ori
entation leaders and Elon 101 profes
sors touch on mental health and
share the resources that are available
to students. Student run organi
zations such as Active Minds and
SPARKS discuss this topic regularly
and yet, the issue remains.
While it may seem like the issue
of mental health is too salient to
break through, we cannot give up on
supporting our students, and in turn,
hopefully ensuring that our commu
nity never suffers a loss like this again.
Even if we feel as though our campus
is doing enough when it comes to dis
cussing mental health and supporting
one another, we still need to be doing
more. Doing more does not necessar
ily mean campus-wide initiatives and
new programs — it starts with the
community.
Ask your friends how they are and
mean it. Do not take, “I’m fine, how
are you?” as an answer. Pay attention
and listen to how they are feeling.
Engage in conversations about stress
and heartbreak, sadness and fear.
Tell your friends you love them. You
do not need a reason to — just say
RESOURCES
Counseling Services
(336)278-7280
Campus Safety and Police
(336)278-5555
Student Life
administrator - on - call
(336) 278-5555
it. Smile as you pass strangers across
campus. See a counselor — even if
you feel you do not need to. Talk
more and listen more.
We need to do more and we need
to come together. None of us can
get through this difficult time alone,
and that is perfectly OK. We have all
likely heard this time and time again,
but the sentiment rings true: It is OK
to not be OK. It is OK to grieve. It is
OK to lean on others.
The loss of a member of our
community is beyond hard for
everyone, especially for those of us
who knew him. Take however long
you need to grieve in whichever way
you need to. And please remember
— you are not alone.
Focus on the present, not your four-year plan
Melissa Beck
Columnist
Transitioning is the
strangest feeling. One day
you’re enjoying the summer
and spending time with your
friends, loving the familiarity
and calmness of it all, and then
suddenly everything changes.
Life takes a 180-degree turn
and you’re in a new state or
town, in a world with different
people and a foreign atmo
sphere. It’s almost as if you’ve
been transported to another
planet.
Then, before you know
what hit you, you’re presented
with a four-year plan — your
very own map to guide you
through the journey that is the
next four years at Elon Univer
sity. But how can you under
stand the map if you don’t even
know where you are?
For a fre.shman, a four-year
plan is one of the most intim
idating things to be shoved in
your face within the first six
weeks of college. Most of us are
still frantically searching our
way around campus for differ
ent buildings, figuring out the
lingo and making sure we’re
not the only ones completely
discombobulated. Though
Elon isn’t the biggest school,
it can still feel like a gigantic
maze. And let’s be honest, we’re
all still learning how to find our
way around.
The four-year plan is exactly
what it sounds like, a full col
lege plan with all the courses,
potential majors and minors
and internships laid out for you
on a simple piece of paper. "Ihis
paper plummets you into the
future, forcing you to imagine
where you want to be in four
years and what you hope to
accomplish here at Elon.
Most Elon students
complete their four-year plan
within the first few weeks of
coming to campus. Too often,
this plan can feel more like a
binding contract than a sugges
tion. And now, with registra
tion coming up, the pressure
to complete this plan is more
visible than ever.
I’m sure many freshmen
take this as a joke. How can a
professor or even the university
expect us to have any clue of
what major we’re doing, let
alone if we’re going to study
abroad once or twice or what
internships we would be inter
ested in?
Some might even look at
the list of majors and randomly
choose the most bizarre ones.
simply because they see no
point. But is there some truth
to the madness? Why would
our Elon 101 advisors guide
us through this plan if it wasn’t
meant to actually improve the
four year experience for under
graduate students?
What if we aU just stepped
back and took a breath before
diving into the future. There
is a valid point in that we
need to be prepared for what’s
ahead, but what about what’s
happening now? I have loads
of homework, am still making
friends, finding extra curricu-
lars and still figuring out who
I am as an Elon student. How
can I do all of that while also
envisioning what my next four
years wiU entail? It’s important
to plan, but aU this planning
could be taking away from our
current experiences.
We must go into this plan
with an open mind, trying our
best to explore different fields
we haven’t tried or perhaps
seem interesting to us. As
freshmen we must trust that
the faculty at Elon have our
best interest at heart and want
us to have the most successful,
enjoyable time here at Elon
and beyond. We must find a
way to take what we’re learning
on a daily basis as we navigate
through the maze, and transfer
that into how we will eventual
ly find the exit. In the mean
time we must strategize to find
the most efficient route, while
still taking in each moment
and recognizing that plans can
change. In turn, we’ll be ready
to take on the greatest four
years of our lives.