Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) collected hats from the Northmont community in the fall, with the goal of using them to raise awareness for depression.

“Activeminds.org [gave us the idea]. They do this kind of display, but with book-bags,” said Sheree Coffman, SADD adviser.

Coffman admits she wanted the people at Active Minds to come in but they were $1,000 and book-bags were too expensive. So instead, SADD decided to think of a way to make the project their own, with hats.

“Hats show the different personalities that can struggle with depression,” said Coffman.

SADD collected over 500 hats and everything was either donated or reused.

“A Northmont family donated the sticks because they lost a family member to suicide,” said Coffman. “Signs were donated by community members. They are political signs turned inside out and painted.”

This school year is the first year for the project and SADD hopes to continue it, spreading the message of depression awareness.

“We sent a message to those who may be struggling with depression. We sent a message to the greater community. We sent a message to parents to talk to their kids about depression,” said Coffman.

Coffman would like to make the display available to other schools so they can raise awareness and not go through the hassle of collecting hats. The hats will be reused for next year, if SADD decides to do it again, because the people who donated won’t get them back.

“I think the biggest awareness is the school cares enough and people know enough to raise awareness,” said Coffman. “The crisis hotline is really important because now a days kids don’t like to talk about their problems so instead they can text about them. [The hotline] isn’t geared for just people struggling with depression but those who aren’t as well.”

The display was recognized by local new stations Channel 2 and Channel 45, and was up from Monday, March 20 to Thursday, March 23.