Dean Betsy Murphy gathered a group of students to plant 100 tulip bulbs donated by Emerson Health on Thursday, Oct. 23. People from many different clubs including Pride Club, Cirrus Club, Best Buddies, and WA Medical Brigades were asked to come to the planting.
This event was organized by the Yellow Tulip Project (YTP), an organization that is trying to smash the stigma surrounding mental illness. Emerson Health partnered up with YTP and other organizations to donate the tulips to WA.
According to Nicole Laviolette, a coordinator of Westford Community Wellness, the yellow tulips are meant to raise mental health awareness because the planting of the bulbs takes place in the fall, and they bloom in the spring as a symbol of hope.
The founder of YTP, Julia Hansen, launched the idea when she was 16. The idea for this project started after she lost two of her best friends to suicide within 6 months. Although the official color for mental health awareness is green, the founder of YTP chose yellow because one of her friends’ favorite colors was yellow, and the others’ favorite flower was a tulip.
In addition to donating the tulips, Emerson Health also introduced the YTP organization to WA. Emerson Health has donated tulips to other towns that partner with the YTP as well.
According to Laviolette, starting conversations through events like the tulip planting is important to destigmatizing mental health.
“Having all of you guys here today starts to bring the conversation. People are starting to talk [and] having the conversation start [is the first step],” Laviolette said.
This is not the only example of Westford Academy raising awareness for health-related issues. For example, many sports teams wear pink in October to support breast cancer awareness. The school has also historically focused on mental health-related issues with suicide prevention walks being run by two adjustment counselors before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Freshman Aarohan Bhattacharyya was one of the attendees at the planting.
“I chose to go because I heard that the cause was about suicide prevention,” Bhattacharyya said. “Me helping out is only a small part of the solution. However, I believe that everyone has their own part to play to solve the issue.”
According to Laviolette, WA will host another event in either April or May to bring more awareness to the topic and allow people to feel more comfortable talking about mental health.
“Yellow tulips help raise awareness and help break the stigma associated with mental health,” Laviolette said.
