Posted on 02/21/2015 5:12:36 PM PST by TurboZamboni
An upstate New York teen who became an Internet sensation last fall after petitioning his school to let him appear in a senior yearbook photo with his cat has died after apparently taking his own life, according to police and the teen's parents.
Draven Rodriguez, 17, was a senior at Schenectady High School when his petition for his yearbook photo to feature him and his beloved rescue cat, Mr. Bigglesworth, against a blue and pink laser background went viral. The petition gained thousands of signatures online after the school initially refused.
While the school did ultimately reject the individual photo, Schenectady High School Principal Diane Wilkinson embraced the student's vision and allowed a photo of herself and her rescue dog alongside Rodriguez and his cat to appear on her page in the yearbook, according to TODAY. Rodriguez, Wilkinson and yearbook photographers, Vincent and Fran Giordano of Trinacria Photography, said they hoped the publicity from the photo would raise awareness for rescue animals and their care
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Aw,God....17 years old.
Awful.
.
What reason does a 17 year old have to take their own life? They haven’t even found out what life is yet.
I was suicidal at a young age. I didn’t act, as I knew the impact it would have on my family. Maybe that’s the difference between girls & boys. You really don’t feel that there’s a possibility that things will be better.
I do remember that as a teen everything was much more emotionally intense. It’s a shame that anyone so young would feel so hopeless.
Thousands of teens commit suicide every year in the US.
I know. Decades ago it was nearly unheard of.
Looking back, I think it’s partly because of our suburban lifestyle. Especially if you’re raised outside of the church. There’s no way to feel that you can change your situation. Nothing to look forward to but the drudgery of life.
Depression was due to heredity for me. But it is almost impossible to tell someone suffering that things WILL change & life CAN be wonderful. You just have to hang on.
In this case, I'm guessing Internet/social media bullying.
I do not recall a reported teen suicide in the area (Orlando) when I was in HS in the 60s. Not to say it didn’t happen, but if so, it must have been extremely rare.
I graduated HS in 68 in Toledo and I’d never heard of one either.
My Mother was abusive but I knew that I’d become an adult and get out. I never thought of killing me or her. The 50’s and 60’s were a different time.
What reason?
Was this kid abused in his home by family? Let me tell you...that’ll do it.
Abuse by the hands of my mother sure messed up my childhood.
Only by the Grace of God am I still alive.
The article said that everyone liked him, that he had a sense of humor and sunny smile. However he could have met an online bully.
I read the article and it doesn’t sound like it was abuse at home.
Washington DC area in the 60s. My high school graduating class was larger then the entire college I would go on to. Never heard of a suicide among schoolmates. Pregnancies? A couple. Three, maybe.
I, too, was suicidal during my early teen years. I cannot remember a time in school when I had any friends and I was left out of everything. The future was bleak and dreary. When I thought about a purpose for human existence, I saw nothing but death and futility.
I didn’t commit suicide for two reasons: the act was probably very painful and I wasn’t sure what was waiting for me after death.
On March 26, 1971, God found me. I Was 16.
I knew of one pregnancy at my HS. I was a sophomore and she was a senior and got married 2 weeks before graduation which was a no-no back then. They’d have kicked her out if it was widely known.
You are truly an inspiration! God bless you!!!!!!!
I became a Christian at 22 and I had a woman stop me in an airport terminal not long afterwards and asked me if I had been recently saved. I asked her how she knew and she said, “My dear, you are absolutely glowing!”
I was bullied, had no brothers to back me up, folks were divorced when i was 11, was genuinely/poor lots of my childhood, and I never thought of suicide.
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