TCNJ

46 The College of New Jersey Magazine CLASS N O T E S W I N T E R 2 0 1 8 CLASS N O T E S W I N T E R 2 0 1 9 Remembrances A car crash shatters lives The college mourns the death of one student and rallies to support the injured. Jason Zujkowski '22, 1996–2018 Music education major CLOSE FRIENDS describe Jason Zujkowski as a massive Viking with a tender heart. Music majors Maxwell Mellies '20 and Jonathan Andersen '19 trip over each other's words as they talk about him. The three met at Raritan Valley Community College and remained friends as each transferred to TCNJ. The Viking reference, they say, originated at a concert at RVCC when Zujkowski played a moving solo of the jazz standard "Dear Old Stockholm." "Jason was this tall, bearded guy, and he played the baritone sax, which is big," says Mellies . "So his looks could be intimidating." "But then he was one of the kindest people around," says Andersen. "He was always helping people out, always generous with his time and equipment," says Mellies. Sadly, his big heart stopped too soon. Zujkowski died unexpectedly from a pre-existing heart condition in November. More than 500 people, many from his TCNJ family, attended his funeral. "That speaks really well to who he was," says Andersen. In his last performance, just hours before he died, Zujkowski played alongside profes- sional jazz trumpeter Michael Ray in a concert to celebrate 100 years of music at the college. "His last solo was one of his best," says Mellies. Says Andersen: "It was great, at the end he held up his instrument toward the crowd." IN THE EARLY MORNING of December 2, Michael Sot '21, a designated driver who shuttled students to and from a party, was on his way back to campus with five passengers when another car, driven by a drunk driver, crashed head-on into Sot's car. Sot died two days later, stunning the the college. The others, TCNJ students Danielle DeFlores '19, Matthew DeGenova '19, Anthony Galante '21, and Ryan Moore '19, and Kutztown University senior Jenna Passero, were in different stages of a long road to recovery when we went to print. The TCNJ community has pulled together — with hundreds showing up in hospital waiting rooms, at Sot's funeral, at a campuswide candlelight vigil — to honor Sot's memory and to support the other victims in their healing. Michael Sot '21, 1998–2018 Mathematics major "MICHAEL WAS NOT kinda friends with anyone," says William Walker '19, one of Michael Sot's fraternity brothers at Phi Kappa Psi. "He'd just meet people and have these long conversations. He always wanted to know you deeply. From anyone else, it would be weird, but it was normal coming from Michael." Joseph Spinoso '21, Sot's childhood friend from Clark, New Jersey, and TCNJ roommate, echoes this. "Most of my friends now are because of him," he says. "The first week here, he was just talking to everyone. Everyone on our floor was coming into our room all the time." But there was more to Sot's friend- ships than just talking. He was the guy who asked if you needed help cleaning up the pizza boxes after a fraternity rush event, the friend who invited you to his home for Thanksgiving when you had nowhere else to go. "He was a really kind person, always putting people before himself," says Spinoso. As friends struggle to make sense of the tragedy, they know one thing: they intend to "Live like Sot." @Brian_Garsh THE SENSE OF COMMUNITY AT TCNJ IS TRULY PALPABLE. LOVE, SUPPORT, AND COMMUNITY TO THIS MAGNITUDE IS RARE, AND I AM PROUD TO BE A TCNJ STUDENT. #tcnjstrong

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