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School fundraiser helps defray funeral costs for family
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Joellin Chance and Elan Caruso, both officers for the junior class at Fitch High School, helped raise money Friday for an Austintown family whose son, Jesse Sellars, died last week. The money will be given to the family to help with funeral costs.
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Lauren Mechling, junior class counselor at Fitch High School, said student Jesse Sellars was always joking and smiling. Sellars, 17, died last week of pneumonia after a short illness.
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Junior Principal Dennis Jasinski said students, faculty and staff in the Austintown school district come together in times of tragedy. He worked with the late Jesse Sellars, who was a student office aide, and said he was reliable and came highly recommended.
By Kristine Gill
AUSTINTOWN
Students at Fitch High School are still in shock over the death of junior Jesse Sellars.
The 17-year-old died Jan. 30 from pneumonia after a short illness.
“He was a wonderful young man,” said junior principal Dennis Jasinski, who had Jesse as an office aide.
“I sent him down to the nurse with flu symptoms, and she sent him home. He never came back,” he said.
On Friday, the school collected donations to help defray funeral expenses for the family. For a dollar, students could wear sweat pants and teachers could wear jeans. Jasinksi said a similar fundraiser after the death of a teacher years ago raised $1,500.
“I was having money thrown at me,” said Elan Caruso, a junior-class officer. “Some kid gave me $5 and wasn’t even wearing sweat pants.”
Junior Counselor Lauren Mechling worked with Jesse for the past three years and said fellow students were shocked by the loss of a peer.
“He was a really funny person,” she said. “He was always happy, always smiling. I was talking to a student who had been in a fight and said the last thing Jesse said to him was, ‘Life is too short. You can’t be in fights.’ He realized what was important in life.”
Junior Kevin McWreath met Jesse last semester when the two had a foods class together.
“He would always joke around in class. He had this special clap; he’d slap your hand three times and salute,” he said. “He was very outgoing, never in trouble.”
Junior-class officer Joellin Chance called Jesse “a big sweetheart.”
Mechling said more than half of those at the Feb. 4 funeral were students.
Two of Jesse’s five siblings, a brother and a sister, also attend Fitch.
“His brother came to school the next day because this was a safe haven for him,” Jasinski said, adding that school counselors have been available for students.
Jesse played football as a freshman and was interested in art.
He also enjoyed trick-bike riding, according to his obituary. He was a Pittsburgh Steelers fan and enjoyed fishing with his father.
He wanted to become a firefighter after high school.