Alia Snyder
For seniors, this final year of high school can be looked at as the best time of their lives-- everything they’ve been waiting and wishing for since the first day. As the year progresses, they all start looking back at the amazing times they’ve had over the last four years, but for the graduating class of Germantown High, a few other events come to mind.
Junior year started like any other for Christian Hess: rugby season a success, conditioning to still look forward to, band camp completed, getting his license, dropping the IB program, a normal beginning. The year breezed by as any other for Germantown students. As the second semester started, of course the pressure was on to really think and prepare for college.
The year continued with nothing being any different, but that all changed on the afternoon of March 27, 2013.
After leaving.
“Honestly, I thought it was a joke, because that night we went to his house and stuff and I was pretty sure that we’d all get there and he’d be there,” senior Ellen Besh said.
Besh had known Christian Hess since their freshman meeting in Ms. Tucker’s class.
“Ever since English class, we were just really close friends. We went out once, but over all it was just a really close friendship,” Besh said.
But Ellen Besh was just one of many who was greatly affected by his accident.
“He was my on-and-off again boyfriend, but overall my best friend. I had two reactions to it; the first one, someone had called me and I didn’t believe it,” senior Reilly Pierce said.
Pierce met Hess the summer before their freshman year at the annual I.B. picnic, and it seemed that was only the beginning of an awkward, yet unbreakable bond.
“He was kinda a tough person to read… you had to punch it out of him to make him talk about stuff, but he knew me better than I knew him. All in all, we were always really close,” Pierce said.
Besides family, there was one person who seemed to be hit the absolute hardest by Chris Hess’s sudden accident.
“It sucks because I don’t have my best friend there anymore, I don’t have that person I can just hang out with all the time… not like I could with him,” senior Luke Carman said.
Carman and Hess had been friends since they met in their kindergarten class. The two were basically inseparable, spending almost everyday of their lives together. Some would even say they were practically joined at the hip.
“I mean, we probably talked about everything together,” said Carman.
With them being so close, the unfortunate loss took Carman by surprise.
“I didn’t know how to respond. I was just, like, completely just didn’t know what to do. I was freaking out,” said Carman.
Although Chris Hess’s accident shocked the entire Germantown community, the students are still able to think of him in a positive light. Senior Katie Kamin crafted an entire drawing of him using only her thumbs and a few pieces of chalk to commemorate his honor. Even without his face lighting up students and guests at many campus events, people still talk about his smile and personality as a whole.
“I would definitely say his smile and how much he liked to make other people smile is definitely what I remember most,” said Besh.
Some just seem to remember Hess in ways that others may not be able to comprehend.
“He’s honestly probably the funniest person you’ll ever meet; he could always make anyone laugh. His laugh and smile are the most memorable things about him,” said Carman.
For seniors, this final year of high school can be looked at as the best time of their lives-- everything they’ve been waiting and wishing for since the first day. As the year progresses, they all start looking back at the amazing times they’ve had over the last four years, but for the graduating class of Germantown High, a few other events come to mind.
Junior year started like any other for Christian Hess: rugby season a success, conditioning to still look forward to, band camp completed, getting his license, dropping the IB program, a normal beginning. The year breezed by as any other for Germantown students. As the second semester started, of course the pressure was on to really think and prepare for college.
The year continued with nothing being any different, but that all changed on the afternoon of March 27, 2013.
After leaving.
“Honestly, I thought it was a joke, because that night we went to his house and stuff and I was pretty sure that we’d all get there and he’d be there,” senior Ellen Besh said.
Besh had known Christian Hess since their freshman meeting in Ms. Tucker’s class.
“Ever since English class, we were just really close friends. We went out once, but over all it was just a really close friendship,” Besh said.
But Ellen Besh was just one of many who was greatly affected by his accident.
“He was my on-and-off again boyfriend, but overall my best friend. I had two reactions to it; the first one, someone had called me and I didn’t believe it,” senior Reilly Pierce said.
Pierce met Hess the summer before their freshman year at the annual I.B. picnic, and it seemed that was only the beginning of an awkward, yet unbreakable bond.
“He was kinda a tough person to read… you had to punch it out of him to make him talk about stuff, but he knew me better than I knew him. All in all, we were always really close,” Pierce said.
Besides family, there was one person who seemed to be hit the absolute hardest by Chris Hess’s sudden accident.
“It sucks because I don’t have my best friend there anymore, I don’t have that person I can just hang out with all the time… not like I could with him,” senior Luke Carman said.
Carman and Hess had been friends since they met in their kindergarten class. The two were basically inseparable, spending almost everyday of their lives together. Some would even say they were practically joined at the hip.
“I mean, we probably talked about everything together,” said Carman.
With them being so close, the unfortunate loss took Carman by surprise.
“I didn’t know how to respond. I was just, like, completely just didn’t know what to do. I was freaking out,” said Carman.
Although Chris Hess’s accident shocked the entire Germantown community, the students are still able to think of him in a positive light. Senior Katie Kamin crafted an entire drawing of him using only her thumbs and a few pieces of chalk to commemorate his honor. Even without his face lighting up students and guests at many campus events, people still talk about his smile and personality as a whole.
“I would definitely say his smile and how much he liked to make other people smile is definitely what I remember most,” said Besh.
Some just seem to remember Hess in ways that others may not be able to comprehend.
“He’s honestly probably the funniest person you’ll ever meet; he could always make anyone laugh. His laugh and smile are the most memorable things about him,” said Carman.