Four Suicides this year at local HS. (Fairfax, Radford: high school, universities)

[barryhussein]

I heard this through the grapevine, but I believe it to be true. Four Osbourn HS students have taken their own lives this school year (which isn't half over). I went through 4 years of HS and 4 years of Uni and there were zero suicides--one girl did put her baby in a garbage shute. What is going on with these kids? I just wanted you all to be aware of this crazy phenomenon, and perhaps have a chat with your kids.

[VEIK]

you heard it or is it actually true?

was this in the news?

[barryhussein]

I heard it and believe it to be true. I have no kids at the school, but the stories are circulating through the community. Maybe we can get verification from another poster.

http://www.bvbl.net/index.php/2008/1...n-high-school/

[Skapov]

Well, with all the intense academic pressures being placed on Fairfax County high schoolers these days, I'm surprised there aren't more of these suicides occruring. That teen from the Jena 6 also made a recent suicide attempt, and one reason why it's so important for me to find a DIVERSE school for my son is because African-American teens in Suburbia have pretty high suicide rates I once read. Does anyone know if the teens were minority ethnicity?

[VEIK]

what is so intense about FCPS?

they have made major changes or something to the curriculum?

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by VEIK

what is so intense about FCPS?

they have made major changes or something to the curriculum?

Not sure that the curriculum is so intense as much as the need to get that high GPA and test scores just to be considered for a state college. The competition in Virginia is tough. My daughter's counselor told me that up until about 4 years ago, Radford was the "safe" walk-in school for most "average" students. Not so anymore. Each year, the bar gets a little higher.

Those kids who are fairly smart and were counting on UVA, William & Mary, Tech, JMU are finding themselves being shut out. I think that might be where the pressure is coming from.

Not sure what's going on at Osbourn at all and don't know anything about the students involved.

[EMTnest]

It is very competitive to get into UVA, W&M, JMU especially for NOVA kids. I never realized how competitive it was until my child went through the application process. You definitely need to have those AP/IB courses as well as a great GPA (most if not all those accepted to UVA had a 4.0 and above GPA weighted), high class rank (top 5% of class) and high test scores too. And the ec's (sports, volunteer hours etc. etc.)

[AnalyzeThis]

Isn't the competition for state colleges increasing across the nation (i.e. supply vs. demand)? Has there been a nationwide rise in teen suicide?

[Skapov]

Originally Posted by EMTnest

It is very competitive to get into UVA, W&M, JMU especially for NOVA kids. I never realized how competitive it was until my child went through the application process. You definitely need to have those AP/IB courses as well as a great GPA (most if not all those accepted to UVA had a 4.0 and above GPA weighted), high class rank (top 5% of class) and high test scores too. And the ec's (sports, volunteer hours etc. etc.)

Yes, I am very afraid that I will have to push my kids so hard in order to keep them competitive, that their childhood won't be very "fun". My co-worker has a daughter who graduated from MIT and her son is at Stanford, and she was telling me about the looooong list of stuff that you have to do in order to get in, because good grades/high SAT scores just aren't sufficient! In addition, UVA/W&M/VTech/GMU attract a great many international and out-of-state students, unlike most flagship state universities especially in the Midwest/South. I graduated from University of Illinois, and when people asked "Where are you from?" they meant "which Suburb (of Chicago) are you from".

[Gottasay]

If anything, Northern Virginia needs to boost existing local universities (eg., GMU) and build new ones to put up with its vastly growing population.