"I am so 8concerned about our children because there is an 9epidemic, if you will, of mental health challenges that they have been 10facing."

The latest numbers about 42% of high schoolers say they constantly feel sad or hopeless, that's up more than 50% from 1999. 

"We are crying. We are 11mourning the loss of a student, of a peer, of a best friend, of a daughter."

A recent survey found that more than 40% of 12undergrads have considered 13dropping out, largely because of mental health and emotional stress. 41% of undergrads reported overall depression and 14% reported 14suicidal ideation within the past year. 

"When I heard about the first one, it really hit. And then another one happened, and then another one happened, and then one happened yesterday, and I just don't know what to do anymore." 

While we are used to hearing from the 15Surgeon General about things like smoking or 16opioids, all the living Surgeons General have come together here at Dartmouth to take on what they say is now one of the biggest public health challenges of our time, mental health, especially among this younger generation. 

"And I have to look at my three teenagers every day and know that I'm not handing them a better world than the world that was left to me. And a lot of that is because of our failure to really focus on mental health and to do the hard things that it's going to take to actually overcome this mental health crisis that we're in." 

A 17clarion call to hopefully protect our very future.