Glenbrook North High School senior star athlete Dylan Buckner, who took his own life last week | twitter.com/GBN_Athletics/
Glenbrook North High School senior star athlete Dylan Buckner, who took his own life last week | twitter.com/GBN_Athletics/
Glenbrook North High School football team members, friends and family members of 18-year-old senior star athlete Dylan Buckner gathered on the school's football field to remember him a week after he died.
It was a place where he "always felt at peace," Matt Purdy, Glenbrook North assistant athletic director and head football coach, said in a Tweet.
"So proud of the young men who spoke so beautifully in memory of Dylan," Purdy said in his post. "Please remember this is a family, kids and community grieving. Send love not anger."
Buckner took his own life last week, leading almost immediately to calls for Glenbrook High Schools District 225 to do a better job in helping students with mental health issues, WBBM Newsradio said on its website.
Close friends knew it was difficult for Dylan to reach out, a classmate told WBBM. "It was so incredibly hard for him to talk about the issues that he was going through.”
Buckner, a football team captain and starting quarterback during his sophomore and junior years, earned a 4.7 GPA and and high scores on the ACT and SAT, according to the news story.
The senior athlete received numerous offers to play college ball, including from Rose-Hulman, Denison, Augustana, Oberlin, Colby, Kenyon, Carleton, St. Norbert and MIT, the Daily Herald reported.
"As an athlete, Dylan was a decorated football player who will be remembered as one of the best quarterbacks in school history," Purdy told the Daily Herald. "Dylan was the definition of leadership. He was a great teammate who was respected by opponents and coaches throughout the state."
A woman identified as a Glenbrook North High School alumnus told WBBM that there have been seven suicide in District 225 over the past eight years. She called the numbers unacceptable, saying District 225 was overdue in addressing student mental health and the pressure students face.
"Today we continue to remember Dylan Buckner, a great young man taken from us too soon," Glenbrook North High School Athletics said in a Tweet. "Keep his family in your thoughts. If someone you know is experiencing symptoms of grief please reach out."
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"RIP Dylan."
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