I am a current first year at Santa Clara. I wanted to reach out to tell you a story about Justin that you probably don’t know.  I visited Santa Clara last year as a senior in high school in April and my older friends decided to take me to Sig Pi to experience a frat party for the first time.  The first boy I met there was Justin.  Honestly I have to say that I had quite a bit to drink so it was a little overwhelming to see all of these college guys and I was freaked out.  After I met Justin for some reason we ended up holding hands and I felt completely safe.  He had no intention of taking advantage of a drunk high school senior and I have the highest respect for him because of it.  The next day he reached out to me also over Instagram to make sure I made it home safe. The message from Justin read:

“Hey I lost you last night but I just wanted to make sure you got back to your parents safely.  Hopefully you’ll make the right decision and I’ll see you in the fall at Santa Clara.”

I had never experienced that kind of thoughtfulness before. He also told me that he hoped I committed to Santa Clara.  Within the next hour I put down my deposit to come here (I also must admit I had a little crush on him).  I saw him this fall at a party and asked if he remembered who I was and he said, “of course I do!!”.

Justin was a really good friend of mine. I think we met briefly after I spoke in his backyard about our Mario and Princess Peach costume memories. I wanted to reach out and say that my thoughts and prayers are with you today and everyday. I remember one of the last times Justin and I were alone we were listening to country music and we were talking about how excited we were for the upcoming Luke Bryan concert (which ended up being the same day as Ryan’s make up graduation so I just sent Justin videos!) but it prompted a conversation about how one of the reasons he loved country music so much was because it reminded him of his mom. And he talked about how fun his graduation party was because you were able to bring a country artist.