Teen Bullying Suicide Awareness: HS Students Plan Walkout

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, CO — After two student suicides within a month at Cherry Creek High School, students will be holding a walkout on Friday, April 5, at 10:17 a.m., organizers said.

Friends of freshman student Jack Padilla, 15, who died of suicide on Feb. 14, are organizing the walkout as part of an Instagram teen suicide awareness campaign called #jackstrong17. A second student, an unnamed female senior at the school, took her life at the end of March.

Padilla's mother, Jeanine, has said that after their son's death, the family saw evidence on his cellphone that he had been bullied by five classmates, who told him to kill himself and threatened to bring a gun to school to kill him. Jeanine Padilla has called for the expulsion of those students. Greenwood Village police confirmed they were opening an investigation after students also filed police reports saying other students had pushed and shoved Jack Padilla and at one point jumped on him and sat on him at school, the Denver Post reported.

"Our family needs healing prayers," Jeanine Fitzgerald Padilla posted on Facebook. "We want to be able to remember the many happy memories we shared with our son Jack and to one day be able to smile and laugh again."

The walkout at 9300 E Union Ave in Greenwood Village will be 17 minutes long, to represent the 17 days that Jack Padilla spent on life support, organizers said.

Jack Padilla's friends and brother John have posted a GoFundMe fundraiser that has raised $40,000 for their teen suicide awareness group. On the page, family members say Jack "suffered from depression."

"Jack was a enthusiastic lacrosse goalie of over ten years. If you know anything about lacrosse, it's that being a goalie takes an unbelievable amount of strength," brother John Padilla wrote on the GoFundMe page. "We cannot allow the bullying, both from adults and kids, to go on any longer. We must be there for each other and end the stigma around mental health and teen suicide together. Together we are #JACKSTRONG."

Students complained that Cherry Creek High School didn't do enough to help students after Jack's death, and the second suicide at the school made things worse. The school is "supporting the walkout," organizers said on Instagram.

The school district said Thursday that they had no reports of the bullying of Jack Padilla before his death, the Denver Post reported.

“The district continues to be intensely focused on supporting the students and families at Cherry Creek High School during this difficult time and we continue to offer extended support through our internal and external mental health resources,” Cherry Creek School District spokeswoman Abbe Smith told the Post. Smith said all information has been turned over the the Greenwood Village police for their investigation.

Resources for parents and teens

A streak of youth suicides this school year has shaken the Denver area. At the beginning of the school year, two seniors at Arapahoe High School in Centennial committed suicide in the same week. Two months before, a 9-year-old Denver boy killed himself after being bullied in school for being gay.

If parents are worried about their child, they can take a screening survey at Mentalhealthcolorado.org.

Other resources provided by local Colorado school districts:

• Helping Your Child Understand a Traumatic Event
• Suicide Clusters: What Can Parents Do
• When a Friend Dies of Suicide
• Understanding Child Traumatic Stress
• Helping Your Child Deal with Grief
• Crisis Text Line: crisistextline.org. Text 741741 from anywhere in the nation to reach a counselor.
• Safe2Tell

Parents who are worried that their child may be having symptoms of depression can look for early warning signs, which include:

• Having trouble with schoolwork
• Not participating in activities you used to enjoy
• Sadness and hopelessness
• Lack of enthusiasm, energy or motivation
• Overreaction to criticism
• Feelings of being unable to meet expectations
• Poor self-esteem or guilt
• Problems with making decisions, lack of concentration or forgetfulness
• Restlessness and agitation
• Changes in eating or sleeping patterns
• Rebelling against parents, teachers, or other authority figures
• Suicidal thoughts or actions

If you need someone to talk to, call Rocky Mountain Crisis Partners at 844-493-TALK.

GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner.

Read More In Patch's Special Report

As part of a national reporting project, Patch has been looking at society's roles and responsibilities in bullying and a child's unthinkable decision to end their own life in hopes we might offer solutions that save lives.

Do you have a story to tell? Are you concerned about how your local schools handle bullies and their victims?

Email us at bullies@patch.com and share your views in the comments.

Earlier In This Series

• Bullied To Death: When Kids Kill With Words
• America's Shameful Truth About School Shooters And Bullying
• Survivor Of Bullying And Suicide Writes Frankly About Both
• Girl-To-Girl Bullying: Why It’s Different, Difficult To Confront
• Bully Upstander: Whatever He Said Caused Bullies To Back Down
• Bullying Caused 11-Year-Old To Attempt Suicide, Mother Says
• Bullied 10-Year-Old's Suicide 8th In School District This Year
• Cyberbullying Is Now Against The Law In Michigan
• Shooting Incident Linked To Bullying At School, Mom Says
• Girls More Likely Than Boys To See Bullying As Harmful: Study
• 13-Year-Old Hangs Herself, But Bullying Killed Her
• 3-Week Nightmare: How Bullying Pushed My Son To Run Away
• Teen Tells Bullies In Video: 'Every Day, I Wear Your Words'
• 'The Hero Myth': Why Expecting Kids To Fight Bullies Is Harmful
• 'Mr. Anti-Bully': Reformed Bully, 12, Sets Mistake Right
• Mallory Grossman Bullying Detailed In Wrongful Death Suit
• Malden Schools Were Non-Compliant Through Bullying Saga: DOE
• 'They All Failed And Changed A Child': Malden Bullying Detailed
• Mom Speaks About Bullying Heartbreak: 'I Feel I Failed Him'
• Why These Kindergartners Start Each Day With A Handshake
• The Bully Menace: 'The Hurt Never Goes Away'
• Bullies And Their Targets The Same: Digital Self-Harm Rising
• Boy, 6, Overcomes Bullying, Heart Condition To Spread Kindness
• Williamsburg Poetry Teacher Helps Bullied Kids Open Tortured Minds
• Bullying Tougher To Confront When It's Bias-Based: Researchers
• Bullied New Hampshire 5th Grader Makes Tearful Plea
• The Bully Menace: 13 Age-Appropriate Reads
• Teen's 'I Wear Your Words' Video Inspires Nashville Songwriters
• Bullying Caused 11-Year-Old To Attempt Suicide, Mother Says

From No Bully, Patch News Partner

• Patch Partners With No Bully To Help Eradicate Bullying
• Cyberbullying Is Now A Crime In Michigan: Is Criminalizing A Good Idea?
• Hitting A Homerun With Kindness With The Phillies

From The Experts

• 'The Anti-Bully': Talk And, Especially, Listen To Your Kids
• The Bully Menace: Patch Experts Offer Tips To Parents
• Anti-Bully Experts Offer Tips On Sometimes Deadly Encounters
• Understanding The Bully: They're Often Victims, Too, Experts Say

What We've Learned

• The Bully Menace: What Patch Has Learned About Childhood Torture