In a serendipitous coincidence for Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, East once again hosted hope-based public speaker Eric Sammuel Timm as he gave a presentation on the importance of words on Monday, September 18, 2023. A famous and widely-known “hope communicator”, according to his website at EST, Timm held a demonstrative assembly on the impact the words we say have on others, tying in wonderfully to the themes of mental health awareness East has been harboring this September.

“The timing of the year is what it is when we got it, but it…really aligned well,” Lincoln East principal Casey Fries said. “Same with it being homecoming week, where everybody’s trying to connect.”

This was not Timm’s first time presenting at East, and his return to the school focused on “words of life”, and how to both use kind words, and be aware of the significance words have on those around them. Timm shared his messages through a variety of methods and demonstrations, from personal stories to volunteer activities with students, all centered around his message of how once you say something, you can’t take it back.

“Words do matter, and they do impact people,” Fries said. “It’s much easier for people to say some hurtful things without actually having to be face to face…It’s also really important to know how fast that can spread to hundreds of thousands of people.”

East hopes that Timm’s presentation will help spread awareness to students about the significance of the words they say, and how, by being a little more aware, they can help prevent issues in relationships or mental health before they happen.

“There’s a lot of our young people who are struggling because of peer relationships,” Fries said. “If we can impact that…we can, as a school and as a community, be better.”