BOISE, Idaho — Boise State athletes and local highschool students wrote words of encouragement on Boise City Hall's plaza, to spread awareness and hope.
- BroncoBold's 'Chalk the Walk' event kicked off Suicide prevention week, with the city procaliming Sept. 9th as Broncobold Chalk the Walk day.
- BSU athletes and students drew positive messages on Boise City Hall's plaza
- The initiative aims to boost mental health and well-being among those passing by.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
It's suicide prevention week across the country, and local students are here, at Boise City Hall to "Chalk the Walk." I'm your Neighborhood reporter Jessica Davis talking with the high schoolers and Boise State athletes, writing words of encouragement, to spread awareness and hope.
"We're just trying to fill up as much space as we can with positive messages just to keep people going through rough times," said Amiya Sarin.
Amiya Sarin is a junior at Timberline High, joining others, chalking the walk kickstarting suicide prevention week at Boise City Hall.
Mayor McLean wasn't able to attend the event, Acting Mayor Colin Nash read the proclamation on her behalf. He says, "I Mayor McLean Mayor of Boise do hereby proclaim September 9th as Broncobold's Chalk the Walk day."
Students from four Boise high schools participated in the initiative brought by Broncobold, a program at BSU focusing on the mental health and well-being of student athletes.
Connor Warkentin is a football player at Boise State. He says, "I think it's a great opportunity to get out during football's bye-week to get out, we got people at the middle schools we got people writing chalk across town. I just think it's a great, I think it's a great opportunity to come out here and support the community."
College and high school students were invited to city hall to draw and create meaningful messages on the plaza.
"So far, I've been doing the stairs and I've been writing keep going you're loved, you're not alone just to make sure people know," added Sara Muench a senior at Capital High.
Amiya Sarin says she wrote, your star shines bright and the team needs you.
She told me, "I chose your star shines bright because not everybody is able to see their own light. If you think about a star a star isn't going to see how bright it is in itself, but if someone is looking at the star, they can see their brightness."
Sarin says it's great to see the positive words having a positive effect, making a dark day a little bit brighter.
"You just have to believe in yourself and believe that whatever you're doing great and even if you can't see it others can see it and that's the reason to stay," said Sarin.
Chalk the Walk not only happened here at city hall, but at schools across Boise with students writing positive messages for those passing by.
