PHOTOGRAPH BY | Darin Back

When her 20-year-old cousin Colie committed suicide five years ago, Jenna Machado ’12 was devastated. But instead of retreating inward in her grief, she asked herself what she could do to prevent such tragedies in the future.

Her answer was to form a suicide prevention and education nonprofit called Colie’s Closet in her hometown of Boulder, Colorado. Although the original goal was to raise money through used clothing sales to help teens afford therapy, the nonprofit has since grown beyond those parameters. “I learned that many people have misconceptions about suicide,” says Machado. “Many kids, especially, believe it is weak to ask for help, or that if someone talks about suicide they’ll never do it. In both cases the opposite is actually true.”

Colie’s Closet trains peer educators to go into middle and high school classrooms and discuss the prevalence and warning signs of suicide, as well as to educate students about what to do or not do when they think a friend is suicidal. The group has already trained hundreds of kids in the Boulder area, and now, while others continue to run the Boulder operation, Machado hopes to start a new branch in St. Paul. The nonprofit is supported by clothing sales as well as by sales of blue “Hold On” bracelets that advertise the group’s Web site and a local suicide prevention hotline.

Machado’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. She was one of 10 middle and high school students nationwide chosen for a 2008 Prudential Spirit of Community Award and also caught the attention of Parade magazine, which featured her Colie’s Closet work in a December issue. Machado, who hopes to double major in psychology and sociology, also keeps busy as a midfielder on the women’s soccer team. But suicide prevention remains her passion. “The more it’s talked about, the more it can be prevented,” says Machado. “Every bit of help we can provide makes a huge difference.”