“Moving Forward” is more than just a phrase for several Gilbert High seniors, pushing to make positive, social change at their high school. Weston Congdon, Ben Melody, Dalton Nelson and Adelaide Searles are some of the founding members of Moving Forward. It’s an entirely student-run organization that they started last December, shortly after the death of Nolan Clewell, a classmate of theirs who died by suicide in November 2021. “He would still play video games while time,” Dalton Nelson said. . “He would bring his switch to school.” That year was the second year in a row that a Gilbert High student had committed suicide. Henry Owens died in September 2020. “I think after the first suicide – Henry Owens died – I think everyone did their best for a while and then they went back to how they were because it was comfortable,” said Ben Melody, a senior at Gilbert High senior. However, sometimes comfort just isn’t enough. This is a fact that the Moving Forward team understands. “We just didn’t want something like this to happen again,” Weston Congdon said. Now the Moving Forward team is working to ensure this never happens again. Moving Forward aims to be a student mental health support organization by connecting students despite their age or cliques. “We understand. We know what it’s like to go through this,” Adelaide Searles said. “We want to take that and help others.” In March 2022, they organized their first event: a movie night. Since then, a dozen other events have followed: a pool party, bonfires, holiday parties and more. Within each event there are other activities and games that bring people together. A fond memory for the group is the Friendsgiving event held at the school in November. “People were pulling tables to get closer to each other,” Searles said. “It was the best thing we’ve seen.” The Moving Forward team strives to help students make social connections; it has been their passion since the beginning. It’s something they achieve. “Recently we had a bunch of freshmen come to events and now they’re just having lunch with a bunch of seniors,” Congdon said. Moving Forward is about breaking the cliques so everyone feels connected; like they had someone to talk to. The team hopes this will go a long way in ensuring that Gilbert High never loses a classmate to suicide again. “I mean, if you don’t learn from others,” Melody said. “That’s a tragedy in itself. Honestly, I don’t think there’s anything like Moving Forward.” The founding members say they know Moving Forward is not about them; these are the students of the school as a whole. They hope that next year, younger students will take on the role of continuing the mission Moving Forward. Anyone interested in joining Moving Forward can do so by contacting here. KCCI reached out to Gilbert High Principal Cindy Bassett, who shared this message of gratitude and school pride: “We are so proud of Moving Forward; it inspires the kids at Gilbert High School and all around! It started with a group of kids who wanted to make sure everyone had a place and felt like they belonged and it was extremely important to them that it was student-led so the kids saw it as something for peers, by peers. We honored this because it’s important for kids to be empowered.” Moving Forward is really intentional about making sure the next set of leaders are already in place. It is about including as many students as possible and reaching as many children as possible. They have made a difference to many students and to our overall culture, and we can’t wait to see what they do next. Sky is the limit!”
“Moving Forward” is more than just a phrase for several Gilbert High seniors, pushing to make positive, social change at their high school.
Weston Congdon, Ben Melody, Dalton Nelson and Adelaide Searles are some of the founding members of Moving Forward. It is an entirely student-run organization that they created last December, shortly after the death of Nolan Clewell, a classmate of theirs who died by suicide in November 2021.
“He would still play video games all the time,” Dalton Nelson said. “He would bring his switch to school.”
That year was the second year in a row that a Gilbert High student had committed suicide. Henry Owens passed away in September 2020.
“I think after the first suicide – Henry Owens died – I think everyone did their best for a while and then they went back to how they were because it was comfortable,” Ben Melody said, senior at Gilbert High senior.
However, sometimes comfort just isn’t enough. This is a fact that the Moving Forward team understands.
“We just didn’t want something like this to happen again,” Weston Congdon said.
Now the Moving Forward team is working to ensure this never happens again.
Moving Forward aims to be a student mental health support organization by connecting students despite their age or cliques.
“We understand. We know what it’s like to go through this,” Adelaide Searles said. “We want to take that and help others.”
In March 2022, they organized their first event: a movie night. Since then, a dozen other events have followed: a pool party, bonfires, holiday parties and more.
Within each event there are other activities and games that bring people together.
A fond memory for the group is the Friendsgiving event held at the school in November.
“People were pulling tables to get closer to each other,” Searles said. “It was the best thing we’ve seen.”
The Moving Forward team strives to help students make social connections; it has been their passion since the beginning.
It’s something they achieve.
“Recently we had a bunch of freshmen come to events and now they’re just having lunch with a bunch of seniors,” Congdon said.
Moving Forward is about breaking the cliques so everyone feels connected; like they had someone to talk to.
The team hopes this will go a long way in ensuring that Gilbert High never loses a classmate to suicide again.
“I mean, if you don’t learn from others,” Melody said. “That’s a tragedy in itself. Honestly, I don’t think there’s anything like Moving Forward.”
The founding members say they know Moving Forward is not about them; these are the students of the school as a whole. They hope that next year, younger students will take on the role of continuing the mission Moving Forward. Anyone interested in joining Moving Forward can do so by contacting here.
KCCI reached out to Gilbert High’s principal, Cindy Bassett, who shared this message of gratitude and school pride:
“We’re so proud of Moving Forward; it’s an inspiration to the kids at Gilbert High School and all around! It started as a group of kids who wanted to make sure everyone had a place and felt like it fit in. It was hugely important to them that this was student-driven so the kids see it as something peer-to-peer, peer-to-peer We honored that because it’s important for kids to be empowered Act.
“Moving Forward is really intentional about making sure the next set of leaders are already in place. It’s about including as many students as possible and reaching as many kids as possible. They’ve made a difference for a lot of students and our general culture, and we can’t wait to see what they do next. The sky’s the limit!”
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