Palm Springs Students Honor Fallen Youths

Local students drew attention Friday to teen suicides, which is an issue that has plagued desert youth.

Several Palm Springs High School students have taken their own lives over the past few years, and on Friday evening, their friends, family and peers honored them with a free concert celebrating life.

The event was called life-fest.

Three 16-year-old students put the concert together. They said they had been talking about it for a year but in just the past three weeks, the girls banded together, and raised more than $10,000.

“Life is too short,” said Summer Salinas, an event organizer.

“You never know when you’re gonna go,” said Kathleen De Almeida, an event organizer.

“He took his own life,” said Scott Beattie, whose 14-year-old son, Brian Beringer, committed suicide three years ago. “He hung himself.”

Beattie and his daughter were at home when they discovered Beringer’s body.

“You’re talking about your life,” Beattie said. “You only get one. So, you’ve got to speak up.”

“He was fun and everyone wanted to be around him,” said Susan Beattie, who said she still mourns her son. “I just think that he had let too much pile up on him and he didn’t let us know.”

Beringer was one of seven students honored at the concert, where local bands paid tribute with music. Artists also paid tribute by others by painting on the graffiti wall.

Every 15 minutes, organizers played a slide show, remembering each teen.

“Most of them were suicidal,” said Salinas, of the late teens. “Some of them were in a car accident.”

According to the girls who organized the event, every life is precious. They didn’t know all of the fallen youths, but said they do understand the struggles other young people go through.

They said they hope the concert will encourage troubled youths to seek help, instead of a quick end to life.

“We really prayed about it, and we just took a step of faith and realized we can do this,” said De Almeida. “We have God.”