DISHS to celebrate Yellow Tulip Hope Day

OFIP and DISHS partner to raise mental health awareness and reduce stigma

May 12, 2026

By Staff

DEER ISLE—Stonington High School and Opiate-Free Island Partnership will host a Yellow Tulip Hope Day program on May 15 to raise awareness of mental health issues and substance use disorder, addressing stigma for students in grades 6-12.

According to a press release, the half-day event will begin with guest speakers Vanessa Tinker, Ashley Bragg, Caroline Wybar and Derrick Maxie as they “share their personal stories of hope and resilience.” The release said the program will also include movement and stress relief techniques; art and music; and activities featuring Island Fire Departments. “Most importantly,” the release said, the event is an “opportunity for our community to recognize the importance of mental health and find positive ways to talk about it without stigma.”

An all-school square dance and line dance lesson will close out the event.

The Yellow Tulip Project was created in 2016 by a Maine teen and her mother as a “way of lifting the voice of young people with mental illness”, and stopping “the silence created by stigma,” the release said. According to the organization’s website, founder Julia Hansen was in high school when she lost her two best friends to suicide. The organization’s goal is to help ensure that “someday mental illness will be as normal to talk about as any physical illness,” the website says, and the project is dedicated to creating “a space for determined youth to eradicate stigma, build community, and inspire productive conversations.”

The Hope Day event at Deer Isle Stonington High School is part of an ongoing partnership between the school and Opiate Free Island Partnership.