Five students from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, stopped in Eureka recently while on a 4,500-mile bike journey to bring attention to suicide prevention and the importance of the mental health of college/university students worldwide.

Students Justin Brown, Nathan Loyd, Kyle Ferguson, Andi Nakasone and Alyson Erikson began their mission of suicide prevention in May with the creation of the Alive Campaign and planned to bike from Waco to Anchorage, Alaska. Motivation for the trek resulted from a fellow student sharing an experience about an attempted suicide, and members of the Alive Campaign discussed with their friend all the reasons why life is worth living and what crazy adventures they might take if they had no fear of death, or expectations, like climbing Mount Everest or biking from Texas to Alaska.

A few months later Brown, Lloyd, Ferguson, Nakasone and Erickson were making preparations to take the journey with help from many sponsors and inspiration after receiving national recognition from the Jed Foundation, an organization working to prevent suicide, which presented the Alive Campaign with the 2008 Jerry Greenspan Student Voice of Mental Health Award. To track the members of the Alive Campaign, visit www.alivecampaign.org/aboutAlive/theTrip.