A sudden disturbance can send ripples throughout a large body of water.
ASU, a school with a particularly large student body, saw ripples this year after the deaths of several students.
Christopher Callahan, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication dean and University vice provost, said the death of a young person is devastating to all in the University community.
Callahan was one of the individuals impacted by Daniel Kemp’s death on Dec. 21, 2011. Kemp was a 20-year-old undergraduate student studying secondary education whose death was determined to be a suicide.
Callahan said the University's first concern is communicating with those that were close with the deceased student.
“Any time you have a loss of this dimension, it's devastating certainly for faculty and staff,” Callahan said. “Our biggest concern is what impact it's going to have on fellow students. At that young of an age, it's more difficult to deal with.”
He said the University emphasizes available counseling services for those impacted by student deaths.
ASU Counseling Services are available on all four campuses and can be found on the University’s website. A 24-Hour Crisis Line also allows students to speak with a counselor at any time of day.
ASU Wellness Director Karen Moses said it’s important that students seek counseling services when feeling signs of distress or experiencing a tragedy.
“One of the things that we know from available data is that when people are suicidal and they get services from a counselor, they are much less likely to follow through with that suicide,” Moses said.
She said students should focus on taking care of themselves even while in the midst of a busy schedule.
Callahan, whose family was close to Kemp and his family, said Daniel’s death was without explanation.
“I haven't met anybody who said they saw this coming,” Callahan said.
Political science junior Grant Frailich, a close friend of Kemp's, said he felt helpless and shocked when he was told about his friend's death.
“I saw the kid the night before it happened,” Frailich said. “Daniel was a great guy. He was one of the funnier people I've ever met. That's what made it so shocking and so tragic.”
He said people who knew Kemp came out of the blue to remember him after he died.
“Nobody really shows someone how much they're appreciated when they're alive,” Frailich said. “When someone's gone, it's fair game to be as nostalgic as you want to be.”
He said the ASU community was great about reaching out to those affected by Kemp's death.
Callahan said because the Cronkite School is a very tight-knit community, the death of a student is noticed, whether they were close to the student or knew them indirectly.
More recently, Alex Haler, an undergraduate student studying journalism, died at the age of 22 on March 24, 2012.
Haler's death was also determined to be a suicide.
Haler was a student in professor Karen Werner’s magazine writing class during the fall 2011 semester.
She said when she was informed of Haler's death, she gasped.
“The first thing that goes through your mind is ... the interactions that you can think of,” Werner said. “You ask yourself if there were any signs that you missed, if he gave out any warning signs. In Alex's case, he really didn't.”
She said Haler was engaged in her class and sent her an email at the end of the semester to tell her how much he enjoyed it.
Werner said she had kept in contact with Haler through occasional emails regarding stories he had written in her class.
She said Haler had a deep love for his parents that came out in the stories he wrote.
“I would love for (them) to know that he wrote about them with tremendous warmth,” Werner said. “A love for his parents permeated all of his stories. He seemed to care deeply about his family.”
Several other students died of accidental causes during the 2011-2012 school year.
James Rigg died at the age of 22 on Oct. 10, 2011, when he drowned at the University's swimming complex.
Giacomo Masolini died at the age of 22 on April 15, 2012, after being involved in a hit-and-run crash on the U.S. 60 near Dobson Road.
Werner said students should realize that everything comes to a conclusion.
“You just have to do what you can to not get so immersed in the day-to-day that you lose the big picture,” Werner said. “There is a long career ahead of you and a long life. You're young, there's so much life ahead. Death is final.”
Reach the reporter at dgrobmei@asu.edu
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