In the past 4 years there have been many unfortunate passings in the Lee’s Summit community who also happened to be part of the student body of the LSR7 district. The most recent tragedy was the suicide of Mesha Thomas, a senior at Lee’s Summit North. Her passing was on September 29, 2017. Although suicide prevention awareness month is September, the whole community is coming together to remember Mesha and recognize how every single student is important to the whole community. To remember Mesha, Lee’s Summit North students have left flowers, notes, and more in the school and based it on the color purple, which is the color used for suicide prevention. Outside of school students were invited to the church Mesha attended for a service to recognize Mesha and who she was. Due to how active today’s society is on social media, the tragic news spread quickly and kids of many schools showed their grief and sorrows through Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. The hashtag “#Meshasworld” is used for her friends or anyone who is posting things of her in her memory. Along with the Lee’s Summit community, schools like Blue Springs are also speaking out and giving their kind words when hearing of the death of Mesha. Mesha was known to be a very kind, outgoing, social girl who everybody is going to miss. There is always an answer and always somebody or something to help. Many people in the world deal with things like depression and suicidal thoughts. To help, there are suicide hotlines open like the National Suicide Hotline with the number of 1-800-273-8255.
