After his oldest son, Joshua, committed suicide at 17, Ron Pappalardo set out on a mission to help others avoid having his experience.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death overall among young people, and the second leading cause of death among college students. As part of his efforts to help prevent others from losing loved ones to suicide, Mr. Pappalardo has written a book that has helped thousands deal with suicide and its effects, and now travels the country conducting talks and seminars to give valuable information to college students, teachers, counselors and others, that they need to combat suicide.
According to Mr. Pappalardo, students need to know that suicide is preventable and they also need to know how to identify the warning signs and what to do about it. They need to know that there are things they can do today to decrease the likelihood of suicide happening in the future.
Mr. Pappalardo will speak at Penn State Worthington Scranton on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at noon in the Study Learning Center's Sherbien Lounge. His presentation is free and open to both the campus community, school counselors and those who work with teens and high school and college students, as well as the general public. For more information, call Jill Thoman at 963-2681.
To learn more about Mr. Pappalardo, you can visit his website: ronpappalardo.com
