Drake wood was one of my best friends. We used to hang out every day and his house and do karaoke with this massive speaker he had, I still looks back on those times fondly. Drakes passing has impacted me more than probably anything else in my life, the moment I learned what happened will forever be seared into my mind, but the pain of that experience has helped teach me to be more present in my friends and families lives, to offer support even when it’s not asked for and to be more accepting of people’s personal struggles. So while stakes passing was and is horrible , I choose not to look at it with melancholy, instead I’ve tried to honor how great of a person and friend he was in a couple of different ways. The major one was that I sang a song in his honor at our Mr zionsville talent show which raised funds for the AFSP, it’s by far my favorite thing I’ve done throughout highschool, being able to share a tribute to Drake for a bunch of people who may never have known his name otherwise is something I’m immensely proud of. Another was that I participated in a charity soccer match with my showchoir that raised funds for the AFSP.