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COLUMBIA – Rockbridge students returned to school Monday for the first time since classmate Evan Avery was killed in a traffic accident Friday night in South Columbia.
Additional mental health services are being provided to students following Evan's death. Jen Wheeler, co-founder and chief operating officer of Big Tree Medical, will be offering free counseling to Evan's friends and family and to Rockbridge High School students from now until the end of the school year.
“I wanted to offer this counseling because I am the mother of two Rockbridge High School students who know Evan and have always wanted to strengthen our relationship with the school and be a really good resource for them.” ,” Wheeler said. .
Wheeler said he came up with the idea for this type of free student counseling after Rockbridge student Cash Martin died in a motorcycle accident in March.
“Because I know what I know, I was looking for what I could do.” [Martin] “We were family and we loved them very much,” Wheeler said. [so] We were able to help Cash's family, and we thought about our own children at Rock Bridge and the children who needed someone to talk to. ”
CPS spokesperson Michelle Baumstark told KOMU 8 that the district is providing additional counseling and support services to Rockbridge students who are in school for the remainder of the semester.
Wheeler said he also advocates for students to seek help if needed, whether it's in-school counseling or outside help.
“I would encourage students, friends and family to take the time to make an appointment and talk to someone, whether it's a counselor here or another adult,” Wheeler said. “It’s important to talk about what you’ve been through, which can be difficult.”
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Avery was a football player for Rock Bridge last season. The team held a vigil at the stadium on Saturday.
“Evan was a very interesting character,” said Tonya Avery, Evan's mother. “He had an incredibly resourceful personality,” added Evan's father, Brian Avery. “He always made us laugh and he made everyone else laugh, even when he was in a little trouble and we were disciplining him. He had a way of getting us. We always ended up laughing because we knew.”
The Averys said their son had a big heart and loved being with friends and family. They said they were proud of how much of an impact he left on his classmates, teammates and those who knew him.
“Everyone was friends with him, which is what I expected after being with him for a year,” Rock Bridge head football coach Matt Perkins said Saturday on KOMU 8. “He was well-liked, hard-working and just a normal kid in the program.”
“The moment he started walking, he needed a ball in his hands. Any ball would have been fine,” Evan's parents said. “It's always been that way. He didn't play with toys, he didn't like video games, so it made Christmas very difficult for us. It was always basketball, football. Basketball, football. Soccer was limited. Buy me a boy for my birthday. ”
Evan never cared about being number one, his parents said, but always strived to improve himself so he could make others proud.
“He wanted to practice soccer and then go to his gym, Berevation Sports Performance, and train there,” Brian said. “And I was like, 'Really? I just came from practice.' [Belle] As a trainer, as a trainer who really looked at Evan like a little brother, he's been a great part of his life…He told us that Evan was already working hard before football season even started. She said she had approached him with a list of things she wanted to do. It was just a thorough analysis of footwork, speed, this and that. ”
Evan took his role on the Rock Bridge football team seriously, trying to absorb as much as he could from his older teammates at the quarterback position.
“He knew his place on the team,” Brian said. “He had a lot of respect for the two quarterbacks that were in front of him at Rock Bridge, Brady.” [Davidson] and sam [Kaiser]And he respected them so much that he just wanted to be a sponge. No matter what they were doing, the older two really embraced Evan and really encouraged him and would do anything for him, so I'm very grateful for that. ”
“It’s been amazing,” Brian Avery said of the community support. “Friends and family, this is great and it's helping. It doesn't make anything better, but it does help.”
A GoFundMe is currently available for the Avery family.
