yesterday was definitely a low point this semester.. spending all day on campus when my mind was in a different place.

i received an email from Temple faculty sent out to the business school. A friend of mine, Kevin Coffey, was killed over the weekend.

I remember the way we became friends.. he sat right in front of me in Human Resources. in One of the first days of class we both showed up wearing the same shirt, the NCAA Collegiate Rowing one with all the oars covering it. Conversation starter, we had rowing in common, we'd both done it. This led to him becoming one of my better friends in that class and a few of my other classes.. aside from rowing, we had the same major, international business, and the same passion to travel and explore. We worked in the same group for HR and used to make jokes about it all the time. We'd get together to rehearse our Disney War skits... It was a dating show skit.. I was ¨Beauty¨and he was the ¨Prince¨in the skit.. the one I´d go for. It was funny to rehearsal and make more fun out of the class than it actually was together. Then one day, I decided to go to the UN with International Business Association. I told Kevin about it, thinking it would be something he'd love to do, and so he joined and came with me! I was glad to have a friend to go with.. So we spent the bus ride to NYC getting to know eachother better and the day walking around the UN and then NYC together.. we left the rest of the group to tour on our own and stop for soft pretzels and new york pizza :) We definitely had a great trip together and good times in our classes. I never heard Kevin complain, really. That's something that amazes me.. how inspiring and positive of a person he was. Because we had the same major we'd shared stories and dreams about the things we wanted to do. He was so intelligent and I remember specifically noticing how much I wanted to try to be more like him, he was always eager to know what was going on in the world and what he could see or do next. Lol, I remember the blue button up shirt he used to always wear too! All the time. So receiving the news about him was definitely a little shocking. I sat through 5 hours of tedious classes last night fidgety and antsy because I wanted to get home to communicate with people and find out more about the news story.. He'd been travelling from Philly to Toronto, apparently just to check out a new city.. the driver of the double decker bus drove off route and through a bridge overpass that was 2 feet shorter than the bus.. Kevin was sitting on the upper level.. he was one of the 4 killed in the accident. Thinking of how such a bizarre accident, wrong place at the wrong time, and the irresponsibility of the driver could all come together for this to happen is hard to think about. Kevin came to Temple from campus because he loved the IB program and the adventure of a new city, and he was definitely an inspiration.

If this has made me think about anything, it's how I'd like to focus on thinking positively and trying to minimize my complaints. I've got so much going for me, life, family, happiness and health.. I never remember him complaining even when the rest of our group and I would wine about how silly we thought the professor/class was. But Kevin was the one to keep us going, always staying positive.. So I'll let this be my inspiration.. and hopefully I can try to be a more positive person and a positive influence to others..

Kevin was really going to be someone amazing, that's something I would have said even before this accident happened. My heart goes out to his friends and family from Kansas to Philadelphia.. he'll definitely be missed.

http://temple-news.com/2010/09/13/in-memory-friends-mourn-passings-kevin-coffey/

http://cbs3.com/local/Temple.Student.Kevin.2.1909254.html