Posted on 01/22/2014 2:17:03 PM PST by nickcarraway
Madison Holleran, 19, was stressed about her 3.5 GPA in the weeks before she jumped from a parking garage in Philadelphia on Friday, the friend said. The freshman’s tragic death stunned friends and family in her hometown of Allendale, N.J.
A beautiful and brainy University of Pennsylvania track star jumped to her death from a parking garage Friday after stressing out over grades, a family friend revealed Monday.
Madison Holleran — a freshman at the Ivy League school who hails from Bergen County, N.J.— made dinner plans and sent messages to friends without a hint she was feeling suicidal, said family friend Bob Weckworth.
“People talked to her within hours of her act of suicide and there were no red flags, warning signs, nothing,” he told the Daily News from the family’s Allendale home.
“This kid didn’t have a boyfriend. There were no drug issues. There were no mental health issues in her background. It was just the last two, three weeks where they saw a change in her,” said Weckworth, a friend of Madison’s father, James Holleran. “Something snapped.”
Cops said Madison, 19, jumped from a Philadelphia parking garage at 7 p.m. Friday. It was not clear Monday if she left a suicide note.
The death of the teen — who won numerous athletic awards as a student at Northern Highlands Regional High School in New Jersey — left her friends and family stunned.
She left a flood of photos on her social media accounts showing her smiling with friends. One posted on Instagram just an hour before her death shows a beautiful image of Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square at sunset.
“She got a 3.5 her first semester, and I think just the high expectations that she put on herself was that that’s just not acceptable,” Weckworth said.
When she came home over Christmas break, she was a changed person, he said.
“She was not happy at Penn, but the parents had told her then, ‘Don’t go back. We’ll transfer. We’ll look at other schools. There’s no reason to go back, it’s OK,’ ” he said.
It was not immediately clear what may have prompted the teen — a star athlete in her hometown of Allendale, N.J. — to jump to her death. FACEBOOK
It was not immediately clear what may have prompted the teen — a star athlete in her hometown of Allendale, N.J. — to jump to her death.
University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann said Madison’s death left the campus “deeply saddened.”
“She was bright and well-liked with an incredible future ahead of her,” Gutmann said in a statement.
Steve Dolan, Penn’s director of track and field-cross country, said Madison’s teammates were crushed by the news.
“We will always carry her in our hearts,” Dolan said.
The school announced that formal recruitment for sororities would be postponed out of respect for Holleran, who was participating in the events.
Holleran — who was named by the Star-Ledger to the all-state girls soccer and track teams last year — was majoring in philosophy, politics and economics, NJ.com reported.
“As our school community mourns the loss of Madison, we extend our love and prayers to the Holleran family as they grieve, and we respect their privacy during this extremely difficult time,” Joseph Occhino, principal of Northern Highlands High School, said in a statement.
I was a philosophy major and I can guarantee you that in the 30+ years since I graduated nobody has ever inquired what my GPA was.
It takes a bit of living to get a sense of proportion...
I have similar ‘gut feelings’ about this one.
RIP.
From her picture I can tell she was a distance runner.
All good sprinters have large powerful thighs.
Besides parental pressure to "succeed," there is also the myth of the importance of getting into a "good college," which is perpetuated by teachers. I think the threat of not getting into a "good school" is a crutch that teachers use to keep students in line. Unfortunately, I don't think they realize how much impact that can have on a young person.
Way too pretty to not have friends, and having friends is a very secure sense of self in this world.
The article made it seem like she was happy and not depressed
so why kill yourself and shy jump off a building. Could she have been pushed or maybe she just fell and it was an accident.
Why automatically say it was suicide when there was no note or indication that it was?
could she have been friendly with an obama ?
http://www.runnersworld.com/general-interest/penn-freshman-runner-commits-suicide
different article she was doing therapy
This poor kid. Young and a crisis state that if had been somehow interrupted she surely would’ve been able to get help and move on.
So sad.
The Ivy League is a club, the members don’t care what your GPA is. Getting in is the trick.
Hello, parents?
She told her parents she had suicidal thoughts in Dec.They wanted her to transfer.My daughter’s friend who was in nursing class with her was afraid to show her parents bad marks.She took a bottle of pills-went to sleep and never woke up.It is unusual for woman to jump.
Parking lot at 15 and spruce. right behind the kimmel center. I was kinda curious because i live here a work a few block away. and my doc is at Penn.
That’s an informative piece. Something was going wrong for her - whether academically, in sports, or a relationship - and she went off the deep end.
I doubt her problem was the 3.5. The fact is she had mental problems and the poor parents have no other reason to believe it was her GPA. Just my opinion.
Maybe the fact that a friend of her father is making a statement to the press is what gave me that feeling.
She really is a pretty girl, and grades alone (especially a 3.5) doesn’t seem enough to explain it.
I’d like to know how close this friend is to her dad and whether he has business dealings with him. If he financially benefits from being in good with him then I’m sure any funny business with the daughter could be a basis for murder.
It would be interesting to know what the autopsy shows. Like... was she pregnant?
I know I’m just speculating and it’s insensitive but I’m serious trying to make sense of this.
“Kids are sheltered from failure.”
“There is more to this story”
But she wasn’t failing, unless she thought that not being perfect was failing - which is completely wrong.
I read another story about this that was posted here and it said she did leave a note, I don’t think there is much doubt that it was suicide.
Often severe mental illness does not manifest until about this age range. I had a friend when I was a teenager who went from normal to nuts to dead by his own hand in what seemed like 2 weeks. I don’t have the most accurate memory, so it might have been longer than that, but it was weeks, not months. And believe me his mom and other tried to get him help. “Not a danger to himself or others” was the answer. Clearly that was incorrect, but in fact he did not give indications that he was suicidal.
Sometimes they can appear happy in the days before they kill themselves, because they know all their troubles will soon be over.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.