ASHLAND, Va. -- Athletes at any level are sometimes expected to be perfect. When they're not, it can lead to a variety of mental struggles.
Despite its size and suburban setting, Randolph-Macon College is home to a lot of athletic success.
A national basketball championship in 2022, a super regional appearance in softball the following season and the national semifinals in football are just the highlights for one of the most successful programs in not just the ODAC conference, but across the country at the Division III level.
It is what drew athletes like Courtney Moody to Ashland, athletes who had already experienced winning and wanted more.
“My freshman year in high school, we won the state championship for Pennsylvania,” Moody said. “That was huge for my school because it was the first field hockey state championship that we ever won.
McKenzie Andrews, who plays basketball, and Caley Shriner, who plays soccer, came to Macon for the same reasons. But their time with the Yellow Jackets hasn't always been as joyous.
Shriner broke her leg six weeks into her college career while Andrews had to give up her sport after her father was diagnosed with brain cancer.
“I’ve been home and here trying to go back and forth from home to here. I missed a lot of school,” Andrews said. “It sucks being in this position but I'm trying to stay strong for him. My family is being strong for him.
While Andrews admits that she misses playing, but acknowledges the toll it could take.
"I miss playing but it definitely wasn't worth it with my mental health to continue," she said.
Shriner had dealt with anxiety and depression in high school. Now a serious injury threatened something of a relapse.
“I now know what it's like to do it alone and to do it with people who were in my corner. Even though I was here socially isolated, at least I had my family and my parents," Shriner said. "During that time in my life, if I didn't have those resources it would have been a different story."
She is talking about Morgan's Message, a national initiative aimed at helping college athletes deal with mental health struggles. It was created in honor of Morgan Rogers, a Duke lacrosse player who committed suicide in 2019.
Andrews knows several members of Morgan's family from high school
“I think she was insanely ridiculous at lacrosse and then she faced a really bad injury,” Andrews said. “That definitely took a huge toll on her mental health.”
Because of their battles and interest in athletes’ mental health, the young women have brought a chapter of Morgan's Message to Randolph-Macon. The college has dealt with an athlete's suicide in the last couple of years.
The signature butterfly logo includes a semicolon hidden in the middle, which is a literary metaphor for their overall mission.
“An author could have chosen to end a sentence with a period but they chose to use a semicolon. A human could have chosen to end their life but instead chose to keep battling,” Shriner said.
And the group has added its own twist specifically for Randolph-Macon. The green bandanas are a symbol to the rest of the student body.
“The green bandanas on our backpack shows that we're an ally,” Moody explained. “ If someone is struggling with mental health they can come to someone with a green bandana and we can show them the right resources… We can get through whatever it is together.”
Shriner said she people understood that it can be easy to get help and that “it can change your life.”
“If I have to give 110% of me today to make sure you're here tomorrow, then so be it,” Shriner said. “ I want that mentality put on this campus because I would rather listen to someone's story 100 times than listen to it at a funeral.”
There are resources available around the clock if you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health.
The National Mental Health Hotline is 1-800-662-HELP and the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU has the Cameron Gallagher Mental Health Resource Center as well.
Click here to follow the Randolph-Macon Morgan’s Message project on Instagram.
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