We’re All in This Together

Student Council President Katy Boyd explaining the significance of balloons to Alexander-Smith Academy students. (From left) Max Cordua, Katy Boyd, Ms. Kathy Thompson, Ms. Jeanne Dazey, Matthew Treat, Logen Duke, Xavier Wang, Alex Ambler, Zoey Zhang, Lu Ye. (Photo: Denielle Braxton).

On Jan. 16, Alexander-Smith Academy lost a student and a wonderful friend when sophomore Jacob Remels passed away without warning in a tragic accident. Jacob was such a great friend to me, and I (along with everyone else at ASA) miss him very dearly.

“He was unique. I loved that about him. I'll miss him,” junior Becca Stetzer says. “Jacob and I met at a youth group convention. I had no clue who he was but a group of his friends and a group of my friends convinced him that I wanted to go to a dance on Saturday night with him. He was persistent in asking and eventually I told him I’d save a dance for him because he made me laugh.”

Jacob truly had a wonderful sense of humor, and his laugh would light up any room he was laughing in.

“Jacob and I would frequently joke around with each other during break or in between classes,” senior Shannon Nguyen explains.

Senior Sam Moghaddam elaborates, “Jacob was one of the most pure-hearted kids I have ever known. Jacob left with the purest soul and I think it should be said that without him the hallways are always going to be a little bit more silent now. His laugh and voice left everyone with a positive attitude; I know he kept my days positive. I guess sometimes in life you might put a puzzle together and find out a piece is missing, and sometimes it's going to be hard, but that’s okay. We are faced with challenges to show that we are still here. Jacob was what kept the smiles on the students and he has really created a challenge for everyone to try and be happy as if he were there still and I feel that is exactly what he would have wanted. Jacob shows that we are still here and we are going to remain here and we are going to try to keep ourselves happy, smiling as if we could still hear his laugh down the hallway. We miss you, Jacob.”

To mourn our loss, our Student Council held a balloon releasing. As President of Student Council and a close friend of Jacob, I thought it would be beneficial to have some kind of memorial for those who could not attend Jacob’s funeral during our school’s break.

I was excited to send off balloons with his name and a message on it. I felt like I was given some closure which I felt was necessary for my grief process. We chose the color blue because Jacob would always wear blue, and we released 15 balloons to represent his age. Jacob brought so much life to our school atmosphere and he is dearly missed by everyone. 

I know I miss him so much. It’s been over two months but it’s still very hard to deal with sometimes. The most positive thing I can think of that pushes me past this loss is that he’s in a much better place now. Rest in Peace, Jacob Remels.