Speaker Will Activate Minds with Mental Illness Lecture

MELBOURNE, FLA. — The Florida Institute of Technology student chapter of Active Minds will host Ross Szabo’s presentation titled, “What Happy Faces are
Hiding: Talking about Depression.” The free presentation will be held on April 20 at 7 p.m. in the Gleason Performing Arts Center and is open to the
public.

Szabo was diagnosed as “bipolar with anger control problems and psychotic features” at age 16. His commitment to mental illness awareness has put a face to
a problem confronting one in every five teenagers and young adults in the U.S. Known as a powerful educational speaker, Szabo will share his personal
experience with battling mental illness. He already has addressed more than 400,000 young people.

“When I speak, I am not speaking only about me. I am speaking about a generation. The older generation was quiet about mental illness. It is time for us to
stop losing to old ways of dealing with mental health issues and start winning the battle,” said Szabo.

Active Minds, one of the newest student organizations at Florida Tech, is a national club that unites students in the goal to de-stigmatize mental health
issues within the college community. Some of their activities include a week-long tabling event highlighting the theme of mental health awareness with a
different focus each day. Another activity is the De-Stress Fest during finals week, May 4-9, to encourage Florida Tech students to release some of their
end-of-semester stress.

The Gleason Performing Arts Center is located on campus on University Boulevard. For more information, call (303) 745-5545, e-mail info@campuspeak.com, or
visit www.campuspeak.com.