Editor’s note: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the United States is available by calling or texting 988.

It is possible to feel alone at a university with over 45,000 students.

It is possible to be high-achieving and high-functioning and still fell quietly overwhelmed.

This academic year, more than one UCLA student died by suicide. Learning about these deaths was unsettling – how grief, even when not officially amplified, can move quietly across a campus this large yet be felt so deeply.

Suicide is not just the second leading cause of death for young adults but a real issue facing our campus community.

In response to what’s been going on, I attended the launch of a mental health campaign, Hope Connects Us: Turning Collective Insight Into Campus Action, at the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center” on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. Led by Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Monroe Gorden with support from Suzanne Seplow and Nicole Presley, the convention brought together administrators, clinicians, crisis responders, faculty, staff and students to consider how UCLA might address student mental health.

Chancellor Julio Frenk opened the event by situating student mental health within a public health framework. Mental health, he reminded us, exists along a continuum.

While institutional data can illuminate patterns of distress – from acute challenges to crisis levels – stigma continues to shape what students are willing to disclose and what remains unseen.

At the convening, campus leadership addressed the growing urgency of student mental health and suicide prevention, both nationally and within the UCLA community. Reports have indicated that at least two UCLA students have died by suicide. The goal of the discussion was not to provide specific details or place blame, but to emphasize shared responsibility and reflect on what more could be done.

Keynote speaker Thomas A. Parham shifted the tone to campus culture. He urged us to consider how culture shapes how we define success, internalize failure and respond to exhaustion.

A panel of experts, including Daniel Eisenberg, Dr. Nelson Freimer and Presley, contextualized UCLA’s challenges within national trends. Mental health indicators have improved modestly since the pandemic’s peak, yet many students, staff and faculty continue to face challenges stemming from protests to wildfires.

UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services continues to face high demand, with intake appointments sometimes backed up – despite services now being offered both in person and via telehealth to increase access to care.

But expanding access to care, while essential, is not enough on its own. As Chancellor Julio Frenk noted, “health promotion is the proactive effort to empower people to lead healthy lifestyles,” including physical activity, community engagement and stress reduction – efforts that “reduce isolation and strengthen connection,” which are essential to mental well-being.

In the 1920s, nearly all universities required physical education. Today, only about 10-20% do. This decline coincides with increasingly sedentary student lifestyles – most students spend up to seven hours a day sitting with limited physical activity.

Meanwhile, research shows that required physical education increases the likelihood that students meet recommended activity levels – regular physical activity is associated with reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety, improved cognitive function and better overall well-being.

Students are often told to “exercise more” without being taught how. When my doctor advised me to begin strength training, I felt unsure where to start, afraid to ask and intimidated by a crowded gym environment.

A wellness requirement – inclusive of physical activity courses – could create the institutional imperative to offer structured, prevention-oriented, resilience-building curriculum. In partnership with health professionals, undergraduate education could design options that build sustainable habits aligned with evidence-based recommendations for physical activity, sleep, nutrition and/or overall well-being.

Any new graduation requirement will, of course, invite skepticism. Students already balance demanding course schedules and lives. A wellness requirement could easily become another box to check if poorly designed and promoted. However, requirements reflect institutional priorities.

When diversity requirements were introduced over 10 years ago, they signaled what the university considers essential to a comprehensive education.

Just as language requirements recognize prior proficiency, a wellness requirement could include waivers for students who participate in activities with similar learning objectives, such as university-recognized athletics, structured health programs or wellness-focused student organizations.

The question is not whether students are busy but whether well-being is important enough to be embedded into the structure of academic learning and excellence.

What I witnessed at the campaign launch was genuine effort. As Chancellor Julio Frenk affirmed, “Mental health is inseparable from connection.”

To UCLA students: your well-being matters, and you are not invisible to campus leadership.

Our ecosystem of support includes you, too. The simple act of saying hello to someone sitting alone, offering a smile, asking for help without shame or hugging a friend who needs it can interrupt isolation in ways policy alone cannot. Culture is built in these moments.

You are not alone at UCLA.

Johnnie Yang is a UCLA doctoral candidate studying education.