On September 28, 2016 Adrian Jiminez committed suicide. Adrian was a sophomore at IU studying communications. That night he went to work with his mom, Michelle Jiminez, at Panera in Bloomington. She said “He seemed fine when I dropped him off that night and everything changed in two hours.”

Adrian dreamed of being a filmmaker and living in Canada. Michelle says Adrian was full of life and enthusiastic, she even compared him to Robin Williams. She sais “He was always willing to help others, but it just amazes me how he can help save them he just didn’t have the means to save himself.”

Christine Ake, co-president of U Bring Change to Mind IU, a mental helth awareness group on campus, says 1 in 4 people in the world will struggle with mental health and that is no different on college campuses. She says “You come to a new city without your parents, adjusting to a more adult life and a more stressful course load and larger expectations to do well and perform and succeed when you’re surrounded by 40,000 other students who also want to be the best of the best. It’s a lot for students to take in.” Michelle Jiminez agrees that is how Adrian was feeling. She said despite making him go down to part-time at work, he was still overwhelmed. She said he just wasn’t ready for the pressure of college.

According to Crisis on Campus 1 in 12 college students will plan his or her suicide. Christine said she could never imagine what it feels like to be at the point of wanting to commit suicide, but she said “You know they are feeling hopeless, desperate, they don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel all they see is.. there’s nothing good at the end.”

When Adrian was a child he had a conversation with his siblings that he didn’t quite understand. His sister said she loved her mom, and his older brother said he loved her 300 times that. Adrian’s response was he loved his mom “1920’s” and from there on that was the family’s inside joke and Adrian’s famous quote, a quote his sister now has tattooed on her body. Michelle says she misses the three of them being together, and that without Adrian things just aren’t the same. She says she missed them ganging up on her. Something she might not have appreciated at the time, but now misses. She calls it “mom bashing.”

There are several resources on campus to help with mental health issues like UBC2M, NAMI, and the center for human growth. Ake says its very important to reach out and get help and that “talking to someone can make all the difference.” The national suicide hotline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255.