Student death sparks protest among friends 

 

By: Melissa Glen

 

After East Carolina University student Simmie “Marie” Byrd passed away Wednesday afternoon in Jarvis Residence Hall, one of her peers decided she wanted to take this tragedy and turn it into a movement for mental health awareness.

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Freshman geology major Marina Hobday organized the “I Exist” protest after Byrd, a freshman biology major with a minor in leadership, was found unconscious in her dorm room by her roommate at approximately 3:15 p.m. Wednesday in Jarvis, according to a news release sent out by ECU News Services today.

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Hobday wore a shirt with the protest’s slogan Thursday morning at 7:45, as she walked toward ECU’s cupola to stand on the brick wall in honor of Byrd’s memory.

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“I put ‘I Exist,’ because sometimes when we are living, we do kind of exist, but we feel like we are just moving through life and we are just a number,” Hobday said. “But when I say I exist, I am not just a number, I really am an individual. I am here, and we exist also not just as an individual, but as a community.”

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Read More at

 

http://www.theeastcarolinian.com/news/article_d1712062-c5a4-11e7-b99e-f77b4b0a001d.html

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