In thirty five years of teaching at my present school I have unhappily experienced the tragic death of students on several occasions. Two young men died at athletic events; both times because of an unknown heart condition. Back when I taught Biology, I lost a student to a severe brain infection. There have been numerous car accidents that unfortunately took young people’s lives. To date, no student has been murdered. I don’t know the exact number, but I would estimate the total in 35 years as around 20.
The death rate among people 15-24 is about 0.08% per year, about 15% of those are suicides. Our average student population predicts we should experience about 1 death a year, and we are a little below that number. These statistics do not dull the hurt of any single incidence, especially when the young man involved is your former student.
Last week at school we were in crisis mode because of the suicide of one of our seniors. The principal sent out a group voice message to all faculty members last Sunday night announcing the tragedy; and the next morning we had a meeting before school to apprise us of the facts, as they were known at the time, of the incident. My freshmen and sophomores were relatively unaffected by the news, very few showing any signs of grief. Most of them did not even know the young man. Many of the staff, including the principal, were visibly shaken, including one of his present teachers who could not stop crying. For me, it was difficult to get through first several periods as he was my student two years before. I remember him as a quiet, but gentle young man. He was a very good student, an athlete, and had many friends. He was dating a young lady at that time who I also had in class. Apparently, they had been together for almost three years before they broke up last year, remaining friends. I passed her in the halls just after the faculty meeting and, surrounded by friends, she was visibly sobbing. Word has it that he had been going out with another young lady and they recently broke it off. It would be easy to assume that this might have been the trigger that pushed him over the edge.
Not getting into too many details, he shot himself. The family is rumored to have several guns in the house and the word is that he shot himself with his own weapon. Over fifty percent of teen suicides used a gun—80% of those are males. Information also has surfaced that he was taking “something” for some unspecified “problem” and had recently gone off his meds. The combination of an untreated emotional/physiological problem with access to guns is a prescription for disaster.
Personally, I find it difficult to believe that he shot himself. I still suspect that it was an accident, thought everybody else thinks I am completely wrong. I can’t imagine how devastating this has been for his parents. As a parent myself it fills me with fear and panic—it could happen to anybody. At the wake, the line of students and parents was out the door; some reporting a wait in line of 40 minutes. The funeral at a local Parish filled the church to capacity with his grieving classmates, teachers, and administrators from school.
Our school community has always rallied to the challenge presented by a tragedy. In the week after this heartbreak almost twenty students came forward to report their concerns for a friend who they feared might be on a similar path. Each of these students were seen with their parents in order to inform them of the concerns and offer assistance getting help if it was deemed necessary. I hope I never have to see this happen again.
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