You’ve had a bad day. It feels like everything possible has gone wrong. You forgot your laptop at home, woke up late, and your hair’s been frizzy all day. To make matters worse, your friends have been acting weird all week and you completely flunked your physics quiz. You feel alone and exhausted; you need to talk to someone who will listen.

MN has introduced a new caring batch of students aiming to lend a helping hand to fellow peers in this exact situation.

The Hope Squad, a national organization dedicated to mental health awareness and suicide prevention, has spread its roots throughout the nation and now has reached 144th and Pacific.

“The Hope Squad is composed of peers that were identified by the student body as people they felt comfortable going to if they had problems. Students either mentioned the names of their friends or said, ‘you know, I’ve talked to so and so about these things,’” Peggy Breard, the school’s social worker, said.

This Mustang chapter is actively striving to start up meaningful conversations regarding everyday mental health, thanks to the inspiration that hit principal Aaron Bearinger during a training session. Bearinger replicated the idea he noticed, deciding it was a great addition to the school and a valuable resource for students. Once the idea was introduced, Breard worked hard at the vision to make it all happen.

A questionnaire was sent in second semester last year during Mustang Time to nominate students who fit the wanted description for the Squad.

“We just did sheer numbers. If seven people mentioned a person’s name, we asked that person if they’d be interested in being part of the Hope Squad,” Breard said.

Breard and other helpers took these names and came up with a training program to prepare the student helpers for their significant new roles. Through this training program, the members will learn how to aid fellow students who are struggling mentally, but also acquire skills to support people dealing with everyday conflicts.

The program has the Squad meet every Monday during Mustang Time. In these sessions, the Hope Squad discusses future activities, such as fundraisers and spirit weeks, new methods for helping others, and essentially learns about what it means to be in the Hope Squad.

“[the Mustang Time Hope Squad group] will be our planning group to help us form some activities and do some basic training,” Breard said.

Conversations about mental health are tough, but even when they’re dealing with such heavy topics, the tight-knit Squad knows how to have fun.

“I mean, I love the people in [the Hope Squad]. We just have a good group of people that we bond with while again, still bringing more awareness to the topic [of mental health],” Hope Squad member junior Jennifer Bonge said.

Every member plays a diverse, but equally important part in the successful functioning of the Hope Squad, even the busy scholars who can’t make it on Monday mornings.

“There are other people in the Hope Squad who may be MYP or DP or Mustang Mentors or they have other commitments during Mustang Time, so they can’t be a part of that group. That’s why the training is going to be offered: so that they can come and get that training and still have the basic information to be a part of Hope Squad,” Breard said.

The Squad is planning all sorts of activities for the school, but also out in the Omaha community.

On the Hope Squad’s upcoming agenda is the Omaha Out of the Darkness Community Walk, organized by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

The walk will take place at Stinson Park in Aksarben Village on September 30th and is Omaha’s 19th time holding the affair. It is sure to spark motivation for change in the community regarding suicide prevention and mental health, as it’s accomplished annually.

This year the newly established Squad plans to walk in this fundraiser in support of organizations that work in suicide prevention and suicide victim remembrance.

This will be one of the first activities the Mustang Hope Squad does for the 2023-2024 school year, which is attracting a pumped buzz regarding other future events throughout the Squad.

“I’m excited to learn more about some skills that could help me help other people who are struggling to get them out of that place; it’s definitely important,” sophomore Hope Squad member Max Allen said.

The school, and the larger community, now has the chance to learn more about mental health, as well as rally awareness of it, while spreading the message, no matter what you’re going through, everything will be alright.