On February 15, 2012, students tentatively walked into school and discovered on every individual locker a heart-shaped post-it with a sincere message from the community, saying “You are loved!” The students were astonished to see this unexpected message. When they sat down in their seats at first period, they found another surprise message, handwritten letters, from elementary students, saying how much they care about the students at CV. The importance of these few words and letters is not just a welcoming sign for students coming back to school from a long weekend, but an attempt to support a traumatized student body after Drew Ferraro’s suicide.
Drew Ferraro, sophomore attending CVHS, took his life the preceding Friday, at the beginning of lunch, when he jumped from the roof of a building. Many students witnessed the actual fall and point of impact. The death of Drew Ferraro was felt by everyone in the community, but it had an immense impact on the student population. Students were rushed out of the school to the field, crying and mourning the loss. The details of the suicide have already been heavily discussed by other newspapers. Nevertheless, they omitted what happened after that tragic Friday, after the world was flipped upside down for the students.
What happens now? This question was racing through everyone’s head as the days passed. Drew’s death took a part of everyone’s life as well, even if not everyone knew him. Just him being a fellow Falcon, connects the whole student population, the whole community. Nonetheless, taking a farther step back, people need to see the bigger picture. He died because he felt unwanted. He died because he felt as if there was no one there for him. He died because he did not feel loved.
The community came together to help the struggling youth, to help them get through the grieving process. But what now? Too often these events begin to fade into the past until the next tragedy occurs and once again everyone will ask why? Must it take a death in order for a student body to come together? Esther Kang, senior at CVHS, said, “Drew took his life because he did not feel loved. He did not feel as if there was anyone there for him. What would have happened if one person stuck their neck out for him? What could have happened if someone had just simply said “hi” to him that day? What if?” What now Crescenta Valley? What now?
