By MADDY VITALE
Brandy Armpriester was asleep when the phone rang. It was her sister telling her that their brother committed suicide.
It was March 4, 2015 when Nolan Siciensky, 21, a 2011 Ocean City High School graduate, took his own life.
“I remember I was sleeping. My sister called me. I just fell to the ground,” Armpriester, 28, said.
Siciensky was one of five either current or former Ocean City High School students who have lost their lives over the last five years. The most recent death was in the first week of February.
On Wednesday night at the Ocean City Tabernacle, Armpriester and others who lost their loved ones, told their stories.
They, along with church leaders and members of the community who filled the Tabernacle’s Kull Youth Center, joined for a solemn remembrance.
But also to help other young people who are battling depression, bullying, mental illness or other problems.
During an emotional tribute to their son, Earl and Bobbi Potter, of Petersburg, spoke about their son, Kevin, who was a sophomore at Ocean City High School when he took his life, June 10, 2018.
Earl stood alongside his wife as he recalled the last conversation he had with his son. The father and son liked to fish. Kevin went outside.
Earl thought his son was checking out the fish in the pond.
“You may not know someone is in trouble,” Earl explained. “But do your best. Say you love them. Have no regrets.”
Caliope Yiannos, 22, of Seaville, lost a close friend in 2014 to suicide.
“It just really changed me,” she said in an interview before the program. “It really hit me hard. It is good that we are having a conversation now about mental health.”
Lisa Wachter, of Upper Township, is part of the committee that organized Wednesday’s program. If the events help even one person, it is worth it, she said.
“Our plan is to raise awareness. These kids are crying out for help and we need to keep an open and honest dialogue,” she said in an interview.
Wachter and other committee members are working on other programs planned for the future.
Ocean City Tabernacle Pastor and CEO Jay Reimer told the audience that this event was because concerned teenagers and parents approached the Tabernacle about the need to prevent others from committing suicide.
“This is not a Tabernacle event. We are responding to parents and a handful of teens who expressed the need to talk,” he explained. “It is a movement.”
A movement, Pastor Reimer said, is designed to provide encouragement and support to teens and other young people and to understand and hear their thoughts.
“These teens, students and parents came to us,” he said. “Their intent tonight is for everyone in the community to make sure to start a free flowing communication. There is someone to contact.”
Pastor Melissa Doyle-Waid, from Sea Isle’s United Methodist Church, also offered words of guidance to young people.
She asked for the kids to open their eyes. If they see problems, they should help their fellow students out and be there for them.
“You will make a difference,” she said.
The goal is to not only remember the students lost, but to address this trend in the community and to allow students to begin to share their stories.
At the end of the program everyone joined for prayer and a candlelight vigil to remember those lives lost and to bring awareness to the issue of teen suicide.
For more information visit: www.spreadthelovefoundation.com or call 800-273-TALK or Text “START” to 741-741
