Talking Stick - July/August 2009 - 10

Just in Campaign Pinpoints Effect of Unemployment The “Half of Us” campaign, which raises awareness about mental health issues on campuses and connects students to resources, is focusing their efforts on an increasingly prevalent contributor to mental stress: the economy. The campaign, winner of a Peabody award, is an initiative created in November 2006 by mtvU and the Jed Foundation; it takes its name from a national survey showing that nearly half of all college and university students have been so depressed that they couldn’t function; original research shows that most students would not seek help for emotional problems due to embarrassment or lack of information about available resources. Recently, “Half of Us” has been readjusting their focus to another statistic: the 8.5 percent rising unemployment rate. As more and more students are becoming concerned about funding their education, paying off debt, and finding a job after college, it has become clear that the economic environment is an instigator of stress. To combat this, mtvU and the Jed Foundation will include the topic of financial pressures in their agenda, launching three new components to their on-air and online content: • “The Economics of Stress” is a video montage of students around America talking about how problems with the economy are affecting their mental health. One student at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, confesses that financial problems led her to thoughts of suicide, and the cameras follow her as she seeks out the campus counseling center for the first time. • “La Di Da” is a music video using the singer Asher Roth’s track “La Di Da,” in which college students showcase how they cope with stress. • “Stress Check” is part of a tour with the mtvU Movies and Music festival that asks students what’s stressing them out and how they’re coping, with many responses including concerns about the economy and personal finances. For more information on the Half of Us campaign, visit www.halfofus.com. historic hall Plans for coed switch Housing about 1,000 men every year, Pritchard Hall on Virginia Tech’s campus in Blacksburg is the largest all-male residence hall on the East Coast. Named for Samuel Reynolds Pritchard, who helped establish the Department of Electrical Engineering at Virginia Tech, Pritchard Hall has housed over 40,000 male students since it opened in 1969. However, Pritchard is set for a major change starting the final semester of 2009. Not only will it have remodeled bathrooms and fresh paint, but it will offer coed housing for the first time in its 42 years of existence. Currently, the female population makes up 10,048 of 23,533 Virginia Tech students. “We previously didn’t have enough women on campus to work out the numbers across the board, so with the increasing number of returning women wanting to stay on campus and more females in the freshman class, it gave us the critical mass,” says Kenneth Belcher, associate director for occupancy management. The seven-floor, traditional-style residence hall is divided into wings with four bathrooms per floor, which are being remodeled with new tiles and fixtures in brighter colors. Walls in the building will be painted brighter colors and decorated with VT insignia. Study rooms and lounges will get colorful new furniture, lamps, lighting, and rugs to add warmth and to create an environment that will appeal to and welcome female students. The Residence Life Department is also hoping that student conduct will improve, since Pritchard has a long-standing reputation for antics such as residents throwing a pool party in their room complete with an inflatable pool. At the commencement of the final 2009 term, residents will bury a time capsule to remember Pritchard’s history and tradition and to embrace its switch to a coed residence hall. 10 Talking STick virgiNia PolyteChNiC iNstitUte aNd state UNiversity

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Talking Stick - July/August 2009

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