Backpacks are full and assignments are due at National Park College in Hot Springs.

Dylan Wiley is a student here.

“Well, I’m going for a degree in computer programming,” Wiley says.

“Hoping to get into game development.”

Aside from traditional education, something else is being taught at the school, and on Tuesday a tragedy revealed that topic is far from a game.

The Garland County Sheriff’s Office says a deputy found a man dead on the campus with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

It happened on the same day groups kicked off suicide prevention week at the school.

“Essentially anything can lead someone to have thoughts of suicide,” Susie Reynolds Reece says.

Reece is spearheading the local effort to educate people on suicide prevention and helped organize some of the campus events this week.

“It’s our hope to address as many of these subjects as possible,” Reece says.

“So, we have to have these discussions, and we need to be proactive because people, their lives depend on it.”

Several organizations are set up on campus with material. More discussions are scheduled this week to keep cases like this from happening on and off campus.

“At first I was just worried it was someone I knew,” Wiley says.

“It’s a shame man.”

More events and discussions are scheduled for Wednesday at the school. Suicide Prevention Week culminates in an educational session at the Arlington hotel in Hot Springs on Thursday.