JHS students honor fallen soccer player
It was a brief yet extraordinary and highly-inspirational ceremony held on Cherry Hill and extended south into Wood River Junction.
It was a monumental event held last Friday during which a number of Johnston High School sophomores, members of the Student Council and some talented art students came together to honor the life of Maddie Potts, a senior at Chariho Regional High School whose life was cut short on a recent Saturday.
Potts, who was a highly-popular member of Chariho’s Class of 2018, was playing in a Rhode Island Interscholastic League soccer game when she suddenly collapsed on the field and it was later diagnosed she sustained an aneurysm.
Her collapse stunned and silenced the game’s crowd but what followed was a rushing sea of caring and compassion for Potts’ family and the devastated student body at Chariho High.
At Johnston High, Natasha Zito, an ELA teacher and her colleague Mike Howard – a Visual Arts Teacher – spearheaded a unique project that included a number of students making and signing a banner of sympathy to sends to Potts’ family.
“The banner was designed by Alfredo Garcia,” Zito told the Sun Rise. “He was assisted by Rachel Madrid.”
Zito said the banner was signed by a number of students around a special message that read: “From your friends at JHS – Remembering Maddie Potts -- # Forever 11.”
As yet another act of giving and caring, the JHS students and faculty also collected money as a token of sympathy to sent to Maddie’s family.
Members of the JHS Student Council and artists, who completed the banner that featured loving messages, are: Carlos Fragoso, Alex Tum, Joel Aubin, Manny Lourenco, Emily Raposo, Dylan Lavoie, Brad Testa, Ryan Lavoie, Phillip Jessop, Rachel Madrid, Jenni Aubin, Caitlynn Zinni, Sophie Russo, Samantha Gobeille, Mia Ragosta, Alfredo Garcia, Brad Testa and Alfredo Garcia.
