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August 6, 1999
"The real community of man. . .is the community of those who seek the truth, of the potential knowers."
Allen Bloom
U.S. educator and author
It was in this spirit that the APA Alliance (APAA) embarked on a nationwide community outreach project whose design was twofold: to promote greater understanding, communication, and learning between students, educators, family members, and communities throughout the United States and to introduce the warm and caring face of psychiatry.
By demystifying psychiatrists through informal question-and-answer chat sessions, students, parents, and educators also learned in a supportive environment that good treatment exists and is available from psychiatric physicians. The result was that ninth and 10th graders from all over the country shared their most profound insights and experiences on the subject of youth suicide and violence in one of the project's centerpieces, an essay contest in which they were invited to write on the theme "When Not to Keep a Secret."
The winners of the contest were announced just prior to APA's 1999 annual meeting in Washington, D.C., in May. The first-place winner was Cynthia Ailiff, a 10th grade student at duPont Manual High School in Louisville, Ky., who was honored at the APA Assembly luncheon in May. The trip to the nation's capital for her and her parents was part of her prize, along with a computer. The second- and third-place winners were, respectively, Amanda Benally, a 10th grader at Bullard High School on the Navajo Reservation in Newcomb, N.M., and Stacia Wagner, a 10th grader at Washington High School in Sioux Falls, S.D.
The project did not require another large-scale tragedy to underscore the need for such communication, but it got one. When Debbie Lazarus, the 1998-99 president of the APAA, asked Hayes to spearhead this project, she never dreamed that tragedy was just ahead at Columbine High School, so close to her home in Englewood, Colo.
As Anne Palecek, a ninth grader from a small South Dakota town, wrote, "I think that all of these school shootings could have been prevented if any of these kids' friends had just told someone about what was going to happen. If kids don't step forward, I'm sure there will be even more school shootings. It's our responsibility to make sure that nobody has a gun or knife in their locker. Teachers and kids also need to start taking things that they don't think will happen seriously. . . . School shootings could happen at anyone's school, not just at big schools in big cities. . . ."
Many entrants shared the fear that classmates who are committing violent acts or suicide were being ignored or treated poorly for being different. Margaret Spars, a 10th grader from South Dakota wrote, "I wonder how many of these situations could have been prevented by friends and family simply opening their eyes and ears. . . ."
Tenth-grader Candyce Schultz said, "Most important of all, there are so few people who are willing to take the time to listen to someone else's problems. . . . Think of the poor kid that everyone picks on, the school fat girl, or that weird boy with the greasy hair that never talks and is always by himself. Have you ever made an effort to talk to any of those people? Did you ever think that they might be crying out to you?. . . By not saying anything and trying to hurt other people just to spare your popularity, you encourage them to do the unthinkable and are just as bad as someone who might pull a gun on their classmates. . . ."
Among all the essay writers, including the three national winners, the consensus was that if a secret could bring harm to anyone, the secret would have to be broken. The first-place winner, Cynthia Ailiff, wrote, "In my mind, the first and last letters of the word 'secret' stand for 'sacred trust.' The bond of a shared secret is as intricate, and the trust involved as beautiful, as a stained-glass window in a Gothic cathedral." Later in her essay she concedes that the stained-glass window may have to be destroyed to "save the cathedral from burning down and possibly setting adjacent buildings alight."
Cynthia, who is caring for three young girls this summer, aspires to be a writer of fantasy fiction. Her favorite writers are David Eddings, Brian Jacques, Dave Barry, and Mercedes Lackey. She has a 4.0 grade point average and won fourth place in the State Governor's Cup Competition in Language Arts. She is a member of the Beta Club (a school service organization), the Spanish Club, and the school's Academic Quick Recall Team. Cynthia has also been playing the piano since kindergarten and has moved from playing classical to jazz.
Amanda Benally, the second-place winner, also has a 4.0 grade point average and won a $500 EE-Savings Bond for her essay. Upon learning about this honor, she responded, "This could not have come at a better time!" Amanda lives on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Sanostee, N.M. Amanda's interests include world history, English, and drama, and she hopes to begin studying prelaw after high school. She has just finished reading Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises and General George Patton's autobiography.
Amanda's essay shares her own experience of the turmoil involved in deciding not to keep a friend's secret. That secret involved the repeated sexual molestation of Amanda's unnamed friend by the friend's father. One day during the school year, Amanda's friend said that after years of suffering from paternal violence, the only way to end her pain was "Plain and simple. . . . I end my life." Amanda had reasoned with her friend that she was not responsible for what she had experienced, but the friend was rapidly decompensating. Amanda wrote, "I couldn't control her nightmares and flashbacks. . . . She rarely ate, slept, [or] laughed."
Following a nightmare of her own in which her friend successfully committed suicide, Amanda broke her vow of secrecy and confided in the school nurse, who then intervened. At first her friend was angry with her, but as expressed in most of the essays that described threatened suicide, eventually there was gratitude. Amanda wrote, "She realized how much I loved her and how I was obligated to break my promise. I will never forget how she looked at me with tears in her eyes. For the first time in a long time she smiled at me and said, 'Thanks, Sis.'"
Stacia Wagner won a $300 EE-Savings Bond for her third-place essay. Stacia, who has a 3.9 grade point average, compares a secret to a snowball "rolling down a hill-the longer it travels the more weight it collects. The longer a serious secret is kept, the worse the problem gets."
This is her second summer working as a youth counselor at a YMCA day camp. In school she is a member of the Key Club (a service organization), marching band, and golf team. She plays soccer, and her favorite position is goalie. She has played the French horn for six years and is a member of the Sioux Empire Youth Symphony. Her plans for the future are to study premed and become a pediatrician.
The APA-Alliance will again use the theme of "When Not to Keep a Secret" for its 1999-2000 Essay Contest Project. Many district branches have requested that the theme be continued since they could not participate last year.
Each district branch will be sent an updated packet with a diskette containing templates that can be used as is or adapted to fit a district branch's specific needs. The templates, all APA approved, provide samples of all the materials needed to sponsor the contest, including three sample press releases; letters to school administrators, teachers, public officials, and contest judges; step-by-step guidelines for setting up the project; essay application; essay criteria and score chart for essay evaluation; and copyright transfer agreement.
The packets were scheduled to go out to all district branch executive directors by the end of last month, in time for district branches to participate in the project as part of their 1999-2000 public affairs outreach for the coming school year. District branches that do not receive their packets by the end of this month can contact me at RHAZE1048@aol.com or (626) 432-6748. Members of the APAA Public Affairs Committee are available to answer questions and provide assistance.
Teachers and guidance counselors should be contacted about running the project in their classrooms by the middle of this month so that they can include the essay project in their curriculum.
The APA-Alliance wishes to thank all those involved with the "When Not to Keep a Secret" project this past year.
Mrs. Hayes is the chair of the Public Affairs Committee of the APA-Alliance, and Mrs. Fuller is the publicity chair.