David Castañeda

A patron reads through the many backpacks hanging at the Send Silence Packing event. April 7, 2025.

This story contains descriptions of suicide and mental illness. If you or someone you know is struggling, you can text or call 988 to receive mental health crisis care. If needed, the Aggie Health and Wellness Center provides on-campus mental health resources for students by visiting wellness.nmsu.edu or calling (575)-646-1512. 

Active Minds held the Send Silence Packing event on April 7, 2025, where they arranged approximately 100 backpacks along International Mall. Each bag held different stories pertaining to mental health and suicide prevention. The backpacks were set up in two categories separated by color; green signified stories of loss and blue signified stories of hope. 

Gabriela Ortega, the president of Active Minds, spoke about what she hopes people at New Mexico State University take away from the event. 

“We hope by hosting this event, students at NMSU will know that they are not alone in anything; they have people who love and care about them. The sun always comes out after the rain, the pain does not last forever though it may seem like it. There are various resources that students can reach out to if they ever find themselves or others struggling,” Ortega said. 

Sierra Symons, a member of Active Minds and a peer educator in the Office of Health Promotion, shared the effort that went into organizing the event. 

“There have been two months of planning that have gone into this event, we needed enough space for the event and training for volunteers. We had mental health professionals on site all day at the event. So, mainly the logistics of making sure we had resources available and that we, as volunteers, were prepared to support students on such an important matter and do it well,” Symons said. 

Dani Lightfoot, an intern with the OHP, talked about how the office collaborates with Active Minds and how OHP staff members were part of the Send Silence Packing. 

“Any Office of Health Promotion staff members who were going to be at the event had to watch a training video to ensure they could provide effective support as the event progressed,” Lightfoot said.  

She also explained how students partook in the event and what kinds of stories were told through the event. 

“During the event, students were able to walk through a maze of backpacks set up to showcase stories from suicide victims and survivors. Students were also invited to visit the booths present at the event to gather information regarding suicide prevention and mental health resources,” Lightfoot said. 

Symons said there was a “Hope Wall” at the end of the exhibit, where students could write a note and add it to the wall. The notes were meant to give support to one another and spread positivity.  

Ortega gave insight on why Active Minds chose to arrange this event on campus and what their organization wants students to know. 

“Active Minds is a non-profit organization that focuses on breaking down barriers of mental health. Mental health is often stigmatized, and we want to spread the word that your mental health doesn’t define who you are as an individual,” Ortega said. “Unfortunately, many people think that once you reach college age, you do not have any mental health barriers; however, that isn’t the case and overall, we want to break that stigma.” 

Symons said she hopes students will be more open about their emotions. She shared there are so many resources on campus to do this, including Active Minds. 

“Most importantly, we encourage them to discuss their struggles openly, as conversations about mental health are always welcome,” Symons said. 

Ortega said students who would like to join the conversation on mental health and breaking its stigma are welcome. If they want to get involved with Active Minds or get resources from the group, they can email Ortega at [email protected] with their name and NMSU email.