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JMCSS' youth students encouraged to 'Say Something' in emotional assemblies

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Garry Martin was tired at the end of the week on Friday, Oct. 25, but in a good way.
"I haven't even done the work," Martin said. "I just sat and watched."
Martin worked with leadership from Jackson-Madison County Schools to bring a team to the schools that would bring a message to the students that he felt was important, and Superintendent Marlon King and others from the Central Office agreed.
The team is called "Say Something," and when they're not doing their day job of tracking down kidnapping and human trafficking victims, they go around to schools across the country presenting their message - Say Something.
Their message has different parts to it that address different things students deal with on a daily basis.
"We kept the message this week to bullying and suicide," Martin said. "But every time this was presented at one of the schools, without fail, every session would end with an emotional response to the message."
The group had presentations at every middle and high school in the district except Parkview Prep.
On Friday, their final presentation was made at Community Montessori.
It started out fun as they did a fun dancing contest among teachers before a couple of the guys told their own stories in which they'd found success, hit turbulent times and wanted to kill themselves.
But friends were their way out. Their friends checked on them, told them they loved them and were present for them when needed.
Then another man, Caleb Monson, told his story of growing up in Minnesota and having a friend in high school that showed a lot of the warning signs of being suicidal. But he didn't check on him. No one did, and the friend died by suicide.
After that, video clips played of different teenagers telling their own stories of dealing with suicidal thoughts.
By the end of the program, the students were encouraged to stand up and express their love and concern for each other and find a teacher, because the teachers care about them as well.
Before students left, they were shown a strip of paper that had been unrolled at the front of the auditorium on the floor. They were encouraged to stop by the paper, stoop down and write a message in response to the presentation.
"This one was the only one done in an auditorium, and all the others were in the gymnasium," Martin said. "And every time, there were so many messages placed on these papers.
"Some were as detailed as an entire paragraph talking about how they'd been bullied or abused at home and were suicidal. Others were simple cries for help without a name signed to them."
Martin, who is the pastor at Jackson First Assembly, said a few school leaders misunderstood initially the purpose of the assemblies as having a Christian message.
"There was nothing Christian or even religious about this presentation," Martin said. "This was simply to address some serious issues facing our teenage students."
Martin said he plans to spend time over the next couple weeks reaching out to counselors from each school to see what kind of follow-up has happened when that was possible. Martin said he also hopes to bring the group back to discuss issues that weren't discussed this week.
"Trafficking and kidnapping are two things that some of our students are susceptible to that I'd like for them to hear about from the Say Something team," Martin said. "But I appreciate Dr. Marlon King and Dr. Ricky Catlett being open to this.
"I think we've opened some wounds that our students need to deal with, and I hope the community understands that our children are dealing with heavy, heavy issues. And people who pray need to be praying, but parents or anyone else who deals with our young people need to be ready to say something if they need to."
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news