Our oldest daughter tutored this young man's little sister when she was in elementary school. His mother was very active in our school's Booster Club. His father served as our golf coach for a couple of years. They are good people and he was a good kid, in fact as happy go lucky as he was he would have about the last person I would figure to do this.
I just can't imagine what a 21 year old would figure is so hopeless that suicide would be the answer. It just proves what so many are saying on twitter to connect and build relationships with the kids we are in charge of educating. If one of us can have an impact on a student where they will talk to us prior to taking such a desperate act then we have accomplished our mission and its so much more important than test scores, technology, or any other thing we deem important in the education world.
He will be missed, I am so sorry for his family and I hope by writing about it will help me get over this tragedy. It is not meant for me to know why, I only hope any further actions like this can be avoided by us.
Greg, thanks for sharing this. While we can't begin to understand why, we can certainly, as you reminded us, build meaningful and positive relationships with those we serve.
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