‘By Shira Kramer, Managing Editor
On Monday, March 24, Yeshiva University’s biggest event of the year took place on the Wilf campus: Stomp Out the Stigma (SOTS). Students and alumni packed Lamport Auditorium to listen to their peers discuss their own mental health struggles, a topic not often spoken about but extremely important to raise awareness of.
This event is held yearly by YU’s Active Minds club, currently run by presidents Avraham Frolich (YC ‘25), Nachshoni Rothenberg (YC ‘26) and Maia Purow (SCW ‘25).
Frohlich opened the event emphasizing why its important students hear testimonies from their peers specifically. “The people we’ve passed by who struggle in silence could be here in this room,” Frohlich said.
“That person might even be you,” he added. “You are not alone.”
Each year, the Active Minds club selects a few speakers to share their personal stories surrounding mental health. This year, the students chosen were Yaira Katz (SCW ‘26), Ezra Ratner (YC ‘25) and a third speaker who wished to remain anonymous. They discussed topics like depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
As part of their preparation for the event, speakers worked with student liaisons to perfect their speeches. These liaisons also had the honor of introducing the speakers at the event and publicizing their names, which are kept secret until the night of the event.
As a student liaison to Katz, Ruti Frolich (SCW ‘26) told the YU Observer that she was “there for the student speaker for whatever they needed,” and worked on “building a relationship so they felt comfortable going to me for anything.” She continued, “Additionally, I had the pleasure of introducing to the stage the speaker that I was assigned to.”
When the first speaker, Ratner, walked onto the stage, the crowd cheered. He spoke about the struggles of feeling isolated and being stuck in feelings of anxiety. After discussing his personal tribulations, Ratner talked about coming out of the haze of anxiety and separating that from reality.
“I realized that when I wanted to be with people, people wanted to be with me,” Ratner said. “Life is not a battle that we can win in isolation.”
After Ratner was finished, Katz spoke about her uncle who died by suicide and how it affected her. She said that after that tragic event, she made a pact with herself to live. Katz also said that she dealt with a misdiagnosis that led her to many struggles with her mental health treatment. When she was properly diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Katz felt relief to put a name to her struggles.
The fact that the speakers at Stomp Out the Stigma are our peers highlights one important message: anyone could be going through something, and not only might you not know what it is, but you might not know who they are either. Anyone around you could be experiencing these hardships, and Stomp Out the Stigma aims to raise awareness of being cognizant of that.
Active Minds also works closely with the YU Counseling Center to ensure that every student has the opportunity to get the help they need. Dr. Debra Alper, Director of the Counseling Center, spoke at the event. She said that at least 30% of college students have a mental health diagnosis.
“Mental illness is rarely perfectly linear,” she said.
Co-President Rothenberg gave the closing remarks, telling students that they were all present to make a difference. “Making our community a more connected, understanding place is our responsibility,” Rothenberg said in his speech. “It is in our hands to strengthen and fortify what binds us together.”
Around 800 people showed up to hear their peers speak about mental health. Avraham Frohlich told the YU Observer that this event has more attendees each year, which says a lot about YU students. “Year-to-year, that growth is really impressive and it speaks to the power and necessity of having this event on campus,” he said. “YU students in general, that they are willing to show up as a community, is pretty meaningful.”
He also spoke to the individual strength of the student speakers, and said that many students felt the speakers were addressing their own personal struggles, and found them to be quite relatable.
“As presidents, we try to find speakers with different stories coming from different backgrounds so students dealing with all sorts of struggles can relate to these speakers and their stories,” Frohlich told the YU Observer.
“Hopefully we will change the way that people view those around them with more care, consideration and active attention,” he added, “to see that the person next to you, even if they might seem to be doing fine, they might be struggling.”
Seeing the students gathered together for this event was ultimately what was most impactful for Frohlich. “Students hopefully take away that we are a community in YU who cares about this,” he continued. “We are here for each other.”
Photo Caption: Students at Stomp Out the Stigma
Photo Credit: Active Minds / Yeshiva University