Nuñez, a senior, dies in car accident
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Senior year wasn’t supposed to end like this. During the early morning of March 27, Kenny Nuñez, an 18-year-old senior, died in a car accident. “[When I heard about the accident], it didn’t hit me for a while,” said Tyler Harper, a senior and a friend of Nuñez’s for six years. “It was shocking and unreal.” The student body and staff members were greatly affected by this loss of a fellow classmate. Staff members and administrators agree, as assistant principal Dean Kirkpatrick said, that it was “a tragic accident.” Students honored Nuñez by wearing some of his favorite colors the following week in remembrance of him. “It was amazing to see the support,”said Hayley Borsuk, a junior. In addition, many students wrote messages to Nuñez on their cars and drank Monster energy drinks, which were his favorite drink. According to Shane Marino,
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a senior and friend of Nuñez’s since the beginning of seventh grade, Nuñez drank at least two Monsters a day during class hours. “I don’t know [how many] he had
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outside of school because I wasn’t always with him,” Marino said. Borsuk, who was in the car with Nuñez at the time of the accident, managed to walk away with a mild concussion, some bruises, scrapes and a sprained ankle. “It’s a miracle that Hayley even made it out of there alive,” Marino said. Borsuk and Nuñez had dated for about two and a half years. “He was crazy and very outgoing,” Borsuk said. “He was very into helping the homeless and giving. He was very loving— he’s perfect.” His close friends agree that Nuñez always had a positive attitude, which was contagious to those around him. “He
inspired
everyone
to
be
themselves,” Marino said. “He would find a way to make [every situation] fun, and he
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didn’t even really necessarily have to try, because [of] who he was inside.” Marino said he was unable to describe Nuñez in only one word.
PHOTO BY HEAJIN YU At the public service on March 31, friends, family members and students released balloons at Christ’s Church of the Valley as a way to say goodbye to Kenny Nuñez. Some attached letters with memories of their friend. Homecoming football game in 2006—
‘Ridin’ Solo,’” Marino said. “He knew the
“I would need a dictionary for a word
that was Nuñez, a memory his coach
whole song before anyone else had ever
that has a lot of meanings,” Marino said.
shared at the service. At the end of the
heard it. He loved to sing and dance. He
“Maybe; umm, no I can’t do it one word.”
public service, people were encouraged
came up with dances to songs and everyone
to release balloons with a goodbye note
would just be like ‘wow, where did that kid
or a memory of their friend attached.
think of that?’ [He wasn’t a good singer]
The funeral procession took place at the Church of Joy on March 3l followed by the public service at Christ’s Church of
Harper and Marino agree that
the Valley. The public ceremony was filled
Nuñez was always making others laugh
with many OHS students who wanted to
through simple gestures such as putting
Nuñez will forever live on through the
pay their respects. Family members and
his feet on the desk during class to get
memories his family and friends have of
family friends shared memories they had
his fellow peers to smile. Nuñez’s friends
him.
of Nuñez. If any student is wondering who
have many memories of him.
painted himself blue and streaked across
“Any rap song you could ever think
the football field during the Mountain Ridge
of he would know like every word, like
at all, but he didn’t have any fear in what people thought of him.”
“I’ll never forget all the times I had with [Nuñez],” Harper said.