Elgin students remember involved classmate
David Slater would have thoroughly enjoyed the birthday party his Elgin Community College classmates held for him on Monday.
The gathering, held on what would have been Slater's 25th birthday, featured all the things Slater loved: Dr Pepper, Caribou Coffee and, most of all, his family and friends.
Friends remembered Slater, who died in August in a Campton Hills swimming pool accident, as a man of many passions and boundless enthusiasm.
Although Slater was only an ECC student for three semesters, according to his family, the Hampshire native was fully engaged in the college's student life, joining both the Spartan Christian Fellowship and the College Programming Board.
Current and former members of both clubs on Monday recalled Slater's infectious zeal to help in any way he could, despite his disability.
"He is the most energetic, charismatic, enthusiastic individual I've ever met in my life," said Joshua Rohrsen, president of the fellowship, a Bible study and service group. "Though he had cerebral palsy, he never let that get him down."
Friends remembered how Slater, a 2003 Hampshire High School graduate, would talk endlessly about his interests - particularly airplanes, Star Trek and musicals - to anyone who would listen.
"He would talk to me nonstop about how he wanted to get more involved in student life," said Tony Pellegrino, former president of the programming board, which plans events for the student body. "He wanted to do everything he could."
Slater's former club mates presented his family with two prayer shawls Monday and announced the creation of a David R. Slater fund to award a scholarship to the most enthusiastic member of ECC clubs.
Members of Slater's family, who attended the memorial, were moved by the outpouring of emotion from the student body and college.
"For a long time, we didn't even know half this life existed," said Slater's older brother, John. "We never really knew the depth to everything he did and everyone he knew. We're obviously very touched."