Millbrae Leo's Club: In Memory of Dylan Piefer

Every month, the Millbrae Leo's Club holds its general meeting for its membership signups and sign-ups for events to help benefit our community. 

But during this past meeting in December, we recently learned about the death of Dylan Piefer in Millbrae. The club decided to have a presentation to speak out to the members about this issue and situations that may lead to end one's life and also to inform our members how to help their friends. 

Leo advisor and Council member Wayne Lee spoke out to the young adults about Dylan’s death. He does not want to hear about another person ending their life early. 

Council member Wayne Lee and I spoke out to members about how to avoid situations and how to save people from committing suicide or help their friends that may come upon a similar situation. 

I spoke to the members on how to get help. I told people if you see and notice something different about a person, talk to them and ask them "What's up?" and see what is on their mind. Try to create a conversation with them to try to help them. 

"When you communicate with the person, it can make the person feel different and cheer them up," said Leo’s President Sylvia Chen as she ended the special presentation regarding this situation.

The most helpful and important way is to communicate with someone and talk about the issue to someone they trust. If the person does not want to talk you, you can still help them by finding a trusting adult to talk to the person and see if they will talk to them. 

A good person to talk to is your counselor in school, or family members and friends. Counselors are always available to students to help them with school and life issues. If you see a post on facebook that seems to be about suicide, you can report that post to facebook, and facebook will contact the user to try to help them as this is a new feature mentioned on KTVU News. 

It is important help your friends and family to avoid situations like Dylan’s, since no one wants to see someone they love end their life. I mentioned that school is not everything in life. Grades and test scores are not as important as friends and family. 

Grades and score can only get you into get into college, but college will not make you successful. Life is what you make it. An example that is well known that I brought up is about Steve Jobs. Jobs dropped out of college and become successful with the things he did. Success is not from school but from life, as school can only help you get there. I told the Leo’s not to stress out about school and finals. 

People in the world are able to become successful without going to the top schools and being top of the class, that only helps people. People can only be successful from their actions.

Just because you do not get the grade you want, it doesn't mean anything. There is more to life than grades. People have friends and family which is more important than school. Former advisor Doug Callahan believes in the "Family first, School second" motto, because he believes that family will always be there for one another. The best way to avoid stress and to prevent a situation is  just to talk to people and to have fun.  When people have fun, it avoids stress.

The Millbrae Leo's Club was saddened by the death of Dylan Piefer as many members knew and were close to Dylan. The meeting ended in a moment of silence in honor of Dylan as he was not just a teenager, but a friend, community member, and a classmate. The club also donated to the Dylan Piefer Memorial Fund.