Congrats to eighth graders Maddie M. and Alex Z. for earning third place at the Middle School World Affairs Challenge! The WAC is a project-based competition that invites students to research a pressing global issues, analyze its root causes, and propose thoughtful solutions, and build skills in research, critical thinking, and public speaking along the way. 

Maddie and Alex chose to tackle a topic many shy away from: suicide among U.S. veterans. The idea took shape after conversations at home with their parents about veterans’ mental health, which led them to recognize it as a serious issue in their own community and to ask how they might help.

Their research surfaced some sobering numbers. There were 6,398 suicide deaths among U.S. veterans in 2023, doubling those of the civilian population. They found that Colorado has one of the highest veteran suicide rates in the country, concentrated in rural areas where access to mental health resources is especially limited. From there, they built their recommendations around the question: How do we increase Colorado veterans’ access to mental health solutions?

The judges had high praise for their work, thanking them for “tackling an issue that many people prefer to ignore” and applauding ‘the logic you outlined to justify your approach to addressing the issue.” The judges noted that mental health and suicide prevention are “a global systemic problem under-discussed and not properly addressed.”