Written and Photographed By Alex Donchak
“I love you” was the last exchange of words between Brooke DiPalma and her father, Joseph.
After dropping his daughter off at school on April 23, 2010, Joseph took his own life, a month after the town’s high school lost a student to suicide as well.
Months later, Brooke decided to create P.S. I Love You Day.
The day was so impactful and important that a former resident of the area decided to bring this movement to the college atmosphere.
During the annual Student Government Association Organizational Summit last year, a dedicated freshman named Nick Scarmozzino and his group presented a new club in front of the club ambassadors, hoping to get their club idea confirmed so they could provide more mental health resources.
The club was named P.S. I Love You, and its mission is to bring awareness to mental health and suicide prevention.
“It was created back in 2010 when a girl named Brooke DiPalma and her sister Jaime DiPalma, witnessed the loss of their father who took his own life,” he said.
Mental health is an important issue, especially in college. Many students suffer with mental health problems because of stress, money, bullying, not fitting in, etc.
Resources can vary from college to college. Susquehanna University has a number of resources and full-time counselors to assist students with any problems they may experience.
It was not until after the COVID-19 pandemic that students really started speaking up more and providing resources of their own.
Scarmozzino understands what stress can be like for other students and himself, since he participates in many activities on campus.
Along with being president of the club, he is a marketing major, with a double minor in theatre and art administration. He is a Global Business Perspectives teaching assistant, and the alumni chair for the Phi Mu Delta fraternity on campus.
He has been involved with P.S. I Love You since he was in kindergarten, where this movement started in his hometown, West Island, New York.
After their father’s death, Brooke and Jaime dedicated a day to spreading awareness about these issues. “They created a day using his last words of saying ‘I love you’ to bring awareness not only to mental health, but to really bring awareness to suicide prevention, to bring the community together and bring awareness to those topics,” he added.
College chapters of this organization are not common around the country.
“At the moment, it’s [secondary] schools celebrating the actual P.S. I Love You day in February; we’re technically the first chapter that was created as a club organization,” he said.
Though they are the first, other colleges are following in their footsteps.
“I know Mount Saint Mary College is creating their chapter at the moment, so that is the only school I know of at the moment that has their own established in addition to Susquehanna,” he noted.
Nick made it a mission once he got here to get this club up and going.
“The process started before I even got to campus back in August of my first year, and I reached out to the Office of Leadership and Engagement and asked them about the idea of starting a new organization. They were very excited to see something like this be started,” he said.
COVID-19 ruined many opportunities for students and colleges. Many clubs disband due to the abrupt change of plans, causing big gaps in between semesters, with not much funding, and not enough people on campus who were willing to fill the positions of the students who may have graduated.
A mental health club on campus was one of them.
“There was a mental health organization on campus prior to this club being formed, but unfortunately during COVID, it dissipated because mental health became a very sensitive topic during COVID, so it didn’t receive as much support,” he said.
It was time to get the ball rolling.
“We really got the process going in November where we created a constitution and started to create a slideshow to propose to SGA about becoming an organization; but along the way, we were also able to come up with ideas,” he said.
“We had our first P.S. I Love You week last year. We had suicide prevention training to learn about bystanders and how they can help friends who maybe are suffering from mental illness. We had a fundraiser at Charlie’s Coffeehouse where we sold a milkshake that was called the Taste of Love. To bring awareness during the week, we did a yoga night where we also had mindfulness and meditation, and then we also had a movie night,” he said.
The big recognition of the organization comes in February, when they have their own day.
“P.S. I Love You Day happens on the second Friday of February. We celebrate it on the fourth Friday just for more time and scheduling purposes, and its mainly supported by businesses, schools across the nation, to where purple and spread kindness and positivity to everyone to create a kind of uplifting community,” he said.
Nick believes students can benefit greatly from the events since they have a comfortable space to go to when needed.
“Those activities can help with relaxation and help to become more calm and more self-aware,” he said.
With everything Nick is involved in on campus, he understood the benefits a student can gain from opportunities like this.
“I know personally, participating in yoga was able to help me manage stress and also being able to have better coping skills for whenever I am anxious or feeling a little bit unstable than usual,” he added.
Because of COVID, many students never got to experience their senior year of high school or college, while others experienced the pandemic while they were just starting.
“I lost the latter part of my sophomore year in high school, and it pretty much carried into my junior year, and unfortunately my senior year was affected by COVID. I know that there was a lot of spikes in mental health, especially with people becoming more anxious, and I’ve known for many places that unfortunately there’s been a high rate of suicides, especially during COVID, with stuff like isolation and being home and not being able to interact with friends,” he said.
With these challenges, motivation grew within Nick to get behind an organization like this.
“I personally feel like I’ve dealt with a lot of issues with my mental health, specifically with anxiety and stress, so really having that first-hand experience and also seeing how peers react to stress and anxiety really brought me to want to create an environment to not only socialize but also have a support group where they can do activities to help relieve the stress and anxiety, especially in college where there is a lot of course work and social work. It seems that it’s a bit overwhelming at times,” he added.
Though the club is mainly for students, it is still open to staff who wish to participate in events and offer support.
To recruit more students, the club has been doing everything they can do to get their name out there, including partnerships with services on campus.
“We also have a really strong connection with the counseling center, where we get a lot of support from them with advertising and general word of mouth,” he said.
The fundraisers that the club holds are important to not only raise money, but also to bring in more students.
“Our Charlie’s fundraiser went really well. We had that during the movie night, so it was also an incentive where we had a lot of people at the movie night while we also promoted our milkshake, so that was a really good connection at the same time. We also had a mirror painting fundraiser last year where people were able to decorate motivational mirrors. This year so far, we had a P.S. I Love You merchandise fundraiser that took place during family weekend, which was our most successful fundraiser yet,” he said.
This journey for Nick was not easy. It took a lot of time and commitment from his peers and executive board to get this club going as strongly as possible.
The Vice President of the club, Delaney Castagna, added, “We want everyone who struggles with mental health to be able to have a space where they can bond and connect with those who may be in the same situation.”
Other members of the executive board include Calyssa Hurler, who oversees business relations and social media. She wants it to be known that no student should be afraid to reach out for help when needed.
Calyssa said: “I think having a club on campus that promotes mental health is extremely important. In this day and age, some people have a stigma against it, and I think it’s important to break down that barrier and embrace it when you are stressed or need to lean on friends. It’s not meant to be negative, and it helps to connect and understand that nobody is alone.”
Nick commented: “It’s definitely been a true honor to work with these individuals. Each of them brings so many great ideas, and it’s also great to get different perspectives on initiatives that we can do on campus.”
They are just getting started, and there is still a lot to accomplish during Nick’s time here at Susquehanna University, but he is proud of how far they have come.
“I’m definitely very proud with how this has come. Our first semester here was a bit rough with getting our name out there and being able to come up with event ideas, but this year we have been very successful and very grateful for all the support that staff and students have given us,” he said.
That hard work paid off and was recognized by the college. They received the New Program Initiative award during the Annual Leadership Awards hosted by the Leadership and Engagement office every year.
This is just the beginning of the club, with many goals to achieve in the future.
“I’m really hoping for the 2024 celebration in February to reach out to the local Selinsgrove School District to start promoting it within the local community and also get businesses involved and wearing purple and having purple hearts in their windows,” he said.
Having someone to talk to can help a person in so many ways. P.S. I Love You has been working hard to be a valuable resource to the student community.
If you are interested in joining this club or seeing what it is about, they meet every other Thursday in the Benjamin Apple Meeting Rooms 4-5, located in the Charles B. Degenstein Campus Center at 5:45 p.m.
They are active on social media where you can follow them on Instagram and Facebook.
For any additional information, you can reach out to Nick by email at scarmozzino@susqu.edu.
