ACAD remembers warm, creative and promising young man
Posted Apr 16, 2014 3:46 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s a tragedy the entire ACAD community is feeling deeply.
Friends, classmates and teachers remembered Zackariah Rathwell Wednesday afternoon at the Alberta College of Art and Design.
Rathwell is one of the five victims of Tuesday morning’s mass murder in the northwest community of Brentwood.
The 23-year-old was a first year student at the school, and was known as a budding artist, along with being the singer and guitarist of the band, Zackariah and the Prophets.
A memorial set up in the main mall showed several pictures of Zack, his art, as well as snapshots of him doing what he loved most: playing music.
Many students crying openly, a moment of silence was held for their lost friend, and the four other young people whose bright future was stolen.
ACAD is a tight knit community which hosts around 1100 students, and the ripple of this tragedy is far-reaching.
Richard Brown, Chair of the Visual Arts Department, didn’t know Zack personally, but talking to those who did, he was choked up.
“We need to have time like this to grieve together, and in other ways, it’s really important to have this. We have victim assistance with us and we have our counsellors here to speak to any students,” he said.
Jennifer Salahub, Zack’s Art History professor, took a glance at his final exam after learning about the unspeakable tragedy on Tuesday.
One of the bonus questions involved a speaker who came in from Norway to talk about public art and memorials.
“And this is what he wrote: ‘I took away that even though tragic events cause much pain and distress, a truly well thought out memorial, can help ease the suffering and build community while not just glazing over and forgetting the past.,” Salahub said, tearfully.
She said she thinks he would have liked his friends to have a venue like this, in order to grieve.
Salahub explained, he was a warm and funny kid, who always understood her art history jokes.
On the walls beside the pictures, artwork and flowers were blank pages for students to write to Zack.
Chelsea Allard was one of many writing a personal message.
She described Zack as incredibly passionate.
“Just happy, and so accepting. I think, just one of the most loving people I’ve ever encountered, and just like a gem,” she told 660News. “I only met Zack a couple of times, but he’s like, really hard to forget, and now I think he’s going to be impossible to forget.”
