Students wrote notes on tags and attached them to pinwheels as a way for them to share thoughts about suicide at Garden of Hope. The event, run by Active Minds at Maryland, was part of Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.

Outside the Memorial Chapel, more than a thousand brightly colored pinwheels were planted like flowers in the ground, spinning gently in the wind.

Near the Chapel’s Garden of Reflection and Remembrance on Wednesday afternoon, the pinwheels stood as representations of each of the 1,100 college students in the U.S. who commit suicide every year.

The pinwheels were part of a suicide awareness event, called Garden of Hope, in conjunction with Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Run by the university’s student chapter of Active Minds — a nonprofit organization that strives to eliminate the stigma of mental illness — the event sought to highlight the reality of suicide on college campuses and remember those who have committed suicide.

“Part of what we are doing with this event is to try to raise awareness because [suicide] is the second leading cause of death in college students,” said Jeremy Hsiao, president of Active Minds at Maryland.

Anybody who says something that’s suicidal “should be taken seriously,” Hsiao said, adding it’s only a myth that people who say they are suicidal are weak, attention-seeking or not serious. In everyday language, phrases such as “I want to shoot myself” are often used as hyperbolic, joking remarks when people don’t really mean they’re suicidal, he said.

“That’s very bad,” he said. “When people are serious, they’re not taken seriously because there’s so much stigma associated with [suicide]. It’s definitely something that we as a society can improve upon.”

At Wednesday’s event, Active Minds members gave out small tags for visitors to write notes on and attach to the pinwheels as a way for them to share thoughts about suicide, said Ashli Haggard, vice president of Active Minds at Maryland.

“It’s a way to reflect or heal or learn,” she said.

Some visitors wrote notes to people they knew who committed suicide.

“I keep fighting. Hoping I’ll be strong enough. I wish you could have been,” one note read.

Visitors were encouraged to hold a stone while they walked through the labyrinth and reflected, said Calvin Sweeney, an Office of Diversity Education and Compliance program coordinator who helped at the event. Each stone could represent someone who committed suicide.

“Sometimes, it’s not acknowledged how much stress college students are under,” Sweeney said, adding that even though it is a privilege to go to college, that doesn’t always take away from the stress.

In such an environment, it’s important for someone who is suicidal to have someone to listen to them and know that someone cares about them, said David Petersen, associate director of the Counseling Center.

“A lot of times when people are suicidal, you just need to have that conversation, keep them going, keep them talking,” Hsiao said. “The person who’s suicidal is scared. They don’t know why they’re thinking this way.”

The Counseling Center’s services include emergency walk-in hours, individual therapy for depression, intake appointments for counseling services and a presentation called Helping Students in Distress, which includes information for people who know a depressed or suicidal student.

Though Active Minds doesn’t provide services itself, it directs students to where they can get help. The organization serves as a liaison between students and mental health services, coordinating with the University Health Center, Counseling Center and Help Center on events such as Wednesday’s commemoration.

“Teaming up with Active Minds is a great thing for both of us,” said Megan Keane, a volunteer at the Help Center.

Petersen said severe depression can instill a “sense of hopelessness,” something this university’s network of mental health services strives to change with programs and events like Garden of Hope.

“People feel as though there is no solution to their distress, and that leads to feeling suicidal,” Petersen said. “Instilling some sense of hope is where we want to begin.”