Updated: ‘100 Reasons’ To Be Inspired by This Video

After beginning individual projects for their QU 301 class, Global Perspective on Death and Dying, juniors Lauren Taylor and Michelle Brandow decided to join forces to send a message that would improve the lives of anyone who viewed their projects. 

"I decided to make a Tumblr about grief for my final capstone project and Michelle made a suicide prevention Twitter. As we continued with our projects, we realized that they could easily work together, so we decided to make a video to unite the two different projects," said Taylor, a media studies major.

The video Taylor is referring to is their recent post to Vimeo entitled "100 Reasons to Stay." The video (shown below) shows Quinnipiac University students holding up index cards numbered with 100 reasons to stay alive.

"We came up with 'reasons to stay' because if a person is suicidal or if they are going through a period of grief, they are going to want some inspiration to get them through to the next day," Taylor said. "We just wanted to get the message out there that there is always a reason to stay and that each day brings something new and positive."

According to Taylor, the video project only took about two days: one day spent gathering and writing out the reasons to stay, and a second day compiling photos of 100 different people holding up the index cards.

"It is honestly amazing to me that in less than 24 hours after I posted the video, we received over 11,000 views," Taylor said. "We never intended for the video to go further than our classroom presentation, but I am so glad that it is making such a positive impact on our school."

Brandow, a junior public relations major, has said that she is proud of the impact this video has made and that she feels they have touched the lives of others with her and Taylor's project. 

"This started out as a simple project for class, but as soon as I saw that a random person followed my twitter who tweeted me a story about her depression and thanked me for some positive encouragement, I knew this was going to be more," Brandow said. "After seeing this, I have no reason to not be passionate about it."

Their video has become so popular that it has even been featured on Perez Hilton's celebrity gossip blog.  

"Now I can officially say this is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me!" Brandow said. "Our video is sandwiched in between videos about Khloe Kardashian and Emma Watson, Lauren and I feel like celebrities! We can't thank everyone enough who sent the video to [Perez Hilton] and is continuing to spread it around the world, I have never been more proud of our QU community!"