Faux Pitch Letter: Take A Step

To: Duane Gang and Benjamin Goad

From: Maddie Jarrard

Headline: Man backpacking across America summits Clingman’s Dome

Mr. Gang and Mr. Goad,

I wanted to let you know about a quickly-approaching story. Stockton Ray, a 22-year-old from Northwestern, has backpacked his way from Key West to the mountains of Tennessee in support of mental health awareness. This coming week, he is on schedule to summit Clingman’s Dome in East Tennessee.

Clingman’s Dome is the highest point of elevation on the Appalachian Trail, and Stockton will be taking a pause at the base to meet with people and talk about his story and message.

A current student at Northwestern, Stocking is taking a break from academics to pursue this project. His goal is to complete over 24 million steps after a year’s worth of traveling—24 million being the rough number of untreated Americans suffering from mental illness. Along the way, he wants to generate a national conversation and raise awareness about mental health.

There are a variety of different angles to approach Stockton’s story from—whether his personal story about mental illness, his family history, or some of the crazy stories he’s experienced from his hike so far. Definitely ask him about his encounters with some of the alligators around Key West.

He is more than willing to talk about why he started this journey and his opinions on the lack of conversation around mental health. In a summary---

Why he is hiking:

-          24,280,000 Americans suffered from mental illness in 2016 but failed to receive treatment. Stockton will “take a step” for every one of these Americans.

-          To raise awareness about mental health stigmatization.

-          To “take a step” towards talking more about how mental health affects communities and families.

How the numbers work:

-          Stockton hikes at a pace of 36 miles per day on average, depending on the terrain.

-          He has traveled from Key West and will continue to Maine. From there, he will fly to California to hike the American Discovery Trail from California to Washington, DC.

-          He will hike a total of 11,400 miles on different American Trails—the Florida Trail, the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the American Discovery Trail.

The particular instance of summiting Clingman’s Dome is going to be a beautiful angle. Especially since Stockton’s hike is about overcoming and conquering mental health stigma, his physical overcoming of the highest peak on the Appalachian Trail will be a powerful metaphor.

I think it would be a great story for the Tennessean and I hope that you have a reporter that can meet with Stockton. He is travelling a long way, and the greatest reward for him is to see his message and intention reaching a broader audience than he can reach by himself. Please reach out to me if you would like more details.