Senior Curtis Hayes, has been walking through the halls holding a sign above his head saying, “BE YOURSELF”.

Keisha Lopes
The student body watched in inspiration and confusion as Hayes solicited a banner that was inspiring, yet vague. He walked through activities certain of himself and the sign that he held above his head.

“I know he’s doing [this] for some club to support  suicide prevention,” junior Isaiah Sanford said.

While he had vague knowledge of what was going on, Sanford found the movement important and a serious matter that needs to be addressed. “I would do [this] also because I think it’s a good thing to do,’ Sanford said.

Junior Yuma Mayes had a different outlook. Her understanding is that Hayes is doing it so that people would not self-harm if they feel bad about themselves. “I wouldn’t do what Cj’s doing because I don’t think it’s necessary, but I think it should be talked about,” Mayes said.

 Hayes, for the past two weeks, has been hanging signs, writing brief letters, and soliciting a banner through the halls. The consistency with these is that they all promote self-love and are filled with encouraging quotes and sayings. The posters have been hung within the halls, the letters have been given out to anyone and everyone, and the banner has been seen by most that pass through activities.  “Suicide is a big thing to me and I want the message to be heard,” Hayes said.

His message is to prevent suicide as much as he can. He is doing this for the people who feel down or bad, anyone who has ever considered suicide. “ I want everyone to believe that they are somebody,” Hayes said.

When Hayes initially started this project, he anticipated hatred. What he got was nothing like that. His peers began to cherish the idea. Since doing this, he has experienced extreme gratitude, as students have come up to him crying with joy because of what he is standing for. Not only this, his friends and choir peers are jumping on the bandwagon and assisting him. They began helping put up posters and passing out letters. Hayes is planning on doing this until the message is heard and an impact is made. “To believe yourself, you be yourself. If you love yourself, you’ll know yourself,” Hayes said.