Award honors Poland victim

By Denise Dick

Marissa Plakosh’s mother hopes to continue the memorial scholarship through the Class of 2010.

POLAND — The mother of a Poland Seminary High School graduate killed last year in an accidental shooting sees many similarities between her daughter and the first recipient of a scholarship in her name.

Marissa Plakosh, 18, a 2007 graduate, was shot and killed early the morning of Dec. 15, 2007, while in the living room of her Algonquin Drive home. The Ohio State University freshman was home for winter break.

“After Marissa’s death, one of her friends, Franki Kosec, and her mother suggested the idea” for a memorial scholarship in Marissa’s name, said Jeanne Plakosh, Marissa’s mother.

In her obituary, the family asked for contributions for a scholarship. People contributed about $5,000.

The first recipient, Kaitlin Seibert, the 2008 PSHS valedictorian, received $2,000 for her studies next year at Case Western Reserve University. They hope to continue the scholarship through the 2010 graduating class.

“There are a lot of similarities between Kaitlin and Marissa,” Plakosh said.

Both played on the school golf team, excelled in academics and exemplified maturity, she said.

“When we were going through the applications, we had a picture of Marissa and we said, ‘OK, Marissa, help us out,’” Plakosh said.

Several of Marissa’s high school friends worked with her to pick the recipient. Kaitlin’s application stood out, she said.

“It was unanimous,” Plakosh said of Kaitlin’s selection.

In that application, Kaitlin wrote about the impact the older girl, who had been voted class clown, had on her.

“I had the privilege of being [golf team] captain this year, and all year when I wasn’t sure of myself, I thought about what Marissa would do,” she wrote.

She said she used to draw parallels between herself and Marissa.

“She lived her life fuller than some people do in 90 years. ... I hope this scholarship keeps her in our minds and hearts as we continue to remember how beautiful a life she lived,” the scholarship recipient wrote.

Kaitlin earned other scholarships too, but says the one in Marissa’s memory has special meaning.

“I had been looking for a way to feel closer to her, closer to her family,” Kaitlin said. “This helps a lot.”

She will study general musicianship and cognitive science.

“It’s all going to come together actually,” Kaitlin said. “It’s the science of music and how music affects the brain.”

On an afternoon last week, Kaitlin, her mother, Theresa, and Plakosh sat in the same room where Marissa died, talking about their fallen friend and daughter. Plakosh wore a pink jacket — her daughter’s favorite color — to honor her.

Kaitlin, unknowingly, sat in the same chair where Marissa was seated when she was shot.

Six months ago, Michael Plakosh, Marissa’s brother, and his friend, Danny Buccino, 20, a neighbor, were in the Algonquin Drive living room, talking. Michael is also an OSU student.

It was about 5 a.m. when Plakosh heard the two in the house. Michael had been out with friends and Buccino came over later. The young men told her they were catching up, she asked them to keep it down as she and Marissa were sleeping, and she went back to bed.

“About 20 minutes later, I heard a popping sound then the boys were yelling to call 911,” Plakosh said.

She entered the room and saw Marissa slumped in the chair, wrapped in the pink and brown fleece blanket mother and daughter made together the previous day. Marissa had been shot in the neck. Buccino was lying on the floor, shaking. Michael was frozen, the telephone in his hand, Plakosh said.

Michael bought the gun because of several break-ins on the OSU campus, some of which involved armed perpetrators, his mother said. He showed Buccino the gun, demonstrating how to load and unload it by removing the clip. When Buccino picked up the gun after Marissa came into the room, the clip had been removed and Buccino and Michael both believed that it wasn’t loaded, Plakosh said.

But the gun fired, striking Marissa in the neck. A bullet had apparently been in the chamber, Plakosh said.

“Danny said, ‘I’m so sorry. I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Please, I don’t want her to die,’” she said.

Plakosh, a nurse, moved her daughter from the chair to the floor and she and Buccino began performing CPR. They continued until the ambulance arrived, but Plakosh knew her daughter was dead.

Buccino pleaded no contest to and was convicted last month of negligent homicide in Struthers Municipal Court. He was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine plus court costs and to serve 60 days in Struthers jail on 40 consecutive weekends beginning this month.

“This was a horrible, terrible, tragic accident,” Plakosh said. “Danny loved Marissa. All three of them grew up together.”

Buccino and Michael remain friends, she said.

Marissa’s bedroom remains as it was the day she died and boxes from her college dorm room go untouched. Plakosh hasn’t been able to bring herself to sort through her daughter’s things.

About a month after Marissa’s death, Plakosh’s father, with whom Marissa was very close, died. Plakosh takes some comfort in knowing the two of them are together, looking after each other.

Collages of photographs of Marissa and her friends — at prom, the beach, graduation — displayed at the calling hours, line a sideboard in the living room.

“So many people have told me there’s a peacefulness in this room,” Plakosh said. “I take it as meaning that Marissa is at peace and that she’s in a better place than we are.”

Kaitlin agreed.

“She’s probably golfing up there,” she said.