(JO senior, aspiring author takes his own life
■ inebpringtield native,
who had already written his
first novel, transferred to the
University from UNLV
By Jeremy Lang
Oregon Daily Emerald
Don Stone said the first warning
sign came two years ago when
Joshua O’Brien boarded a plane
for school and suddenly, without
any word, didn’t report to football
camp at the University of Nevada
Las Vegas.
O’Brien, a University senior his
tory major, died last weekend
from a self-inflicted gun shot, ac
cording to Eugene Police Depart
ment spokeswoman Jan Power.
She said that, according to the po
lice report, O’Brien made a 911
call at 2:34 p.m. on May 12 and left
the phone off the hook without
saying anything to the operator.
When police arrived at his resi
dence, they found the door open,
O’Brien dead and a suicide note.
“He was really sensitive — he
cared about a lot of people. Some
times I thought he cared more
about others than himself,” said
Stone, who coached O’Brien
through four years of football at
Thurston high school in Spring
field and kept in close contact
with him through his college
years, most recently over last
spring break.
“He was an outstanding student
and a really emotional kid,” Stone
added. “He was one of our more
fiery performers.”
O’Brien played football and
wrestled for Thurston before at
tending UNLV on a football schol
arship his freshman year of col
lege. Stone said that O’Brien went
to UNLV for his sophomore year
and after he didn’t report to prac
tice for a few days, coaches called
O’Brien’s parents.
“The parents called me to see if I
had heard from him,” Stone said.
O’Brien’s brother, Justin, a sen
ior at Oregon State University,
said that the decision to leave foot
ball and UNLV was sudden.
“One day he just decided no
more football [and] decided to en
roll in the UO,” he said.
O’Brien’s father chose not to
comment on his son’s cause of
death.
Stone said O’Brien felt like he
•let people down by not continuing
with football and he thought he
was being treated for depression.
As a person who also played foot
ball in college, he reminded
O’Brien to do whatever made him
happy.
Stone said he remembered
when, in a 1994 first-round play
off game, Thurston missed a field
goal and some players criticized
the kicker. O’Brien instantly
stepped in to defend the kicker.
“He was not your typical foot
ball player... that was his struggle
... sometimes [football] can be
very brutal,” Stone said.
O’Brien had many academic
goals beyond his sports life, ac
cording to his brother. He said
O’Brien was an aspiring writer
who had written his first novel
and taken it to a publisher, who re
turned it for revisions. He added
that O’Brien was one of the kind
of people whom everybody knew
and wanted to be around.
“You could spend 15 to 30 min
utes with him and just go ‘whoa,’”
he said. “Everybody had some
thing in common with him, no
matter if they were 6 or 60. ”
A memorial service for O’Brien
will be held today at 2 p.m. at St.
Alice Catholic Church in Spring
field, where much of his family
lives.
Suicide facts
More than 32,000 people i n the
United States kill themselves every
year.
Accounting for 1.4 percent of all
deaths, suicide is the ninth leading
cause of death in the country.
A person commits suicide about
every 15 minutes in the United
States, but it is estimated that an
attempt is made about once a
minute.
Sixty percent of all people who
commit suicide kill themselves
with firearms.
There are four male suicides for
every female one; however, at
least twice as many females as
males attempt suicide.
3/4 of all suicides are committed
by white males.
Source: American Foundation for Suicide
Prevention
One-credit mentor class networks students, employers
■ Ca reer Center cou rses
allow students to meet
professionals in their field
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Junior Maria-Ladona Schaad
enrolled in the Career Center’s
Mentor Program class last winter
expecting only to improve the
structure of her resume.
Schaad was surprised, howev
er, when she met with her mentor
from Est6e Lauder in New York
City and established a relation
ship that eventually led to the
company offering her an intern
ship.
“I really didn’t expect it,”
Schaad said. “I went in looking
for advice. But we talked and one
thing led to another and they
asked if I wanted to intern with
them.”
With a database of nearly 1,800
professional mentors from around
the world, the Mentor Program di
rectors are eagerly looking to pro
vide students with a transition
into the job market.
Alyson Bodai, program direc
tor, said there are nine courses of
fered fall term for those students
interested in meeting with profes
sionals and exploring potential
careers.
“This is a great opportunity for
students to get hands-on experi
ence from someone already suc
ceeding in the field,” Bodai said.
“It’s real life information.”
In the one credit classes, stu
dents make a request to meet two
mentors in career fields of their
choice. The database — which in
cludes representatives from the
National Basketball Association,
Paramount Pictures, The Late
Show with David Letterman and
the National Wildlife Foundation
— is then searched for a match
and students are connected with
the mentors to conduct short in
terviews.
“When you take the class, you
learn about 40 different people
and their careers,” said Katie
Hopper, assistant director of the
Mentor Program. “And that’s just
that much more knowledge about
career options.”
The Mentor Program, estab
lished in 1993, has classes that
meet just six times each term to
address career planning, resume
writing, networking and inter
views. English, biology, psychol
ogy and journalism are some of
the program’s course offerings.
An additional class is offered for
all majors.
With her great experience in
the mentor class, Schaad said she
strongly recommends it.
“I was really impressed [with
the Mentor Program],” Schaad
said. “It shows why networking is
so important.”
More information about the
Mentor Program and its class of
ferings for fall term is available on
the Career Center’s Web site at
http://uocareer.uoregon.edu/men
tor.
00937a
Most
UO students
when they party
Office of Student Life
Data taken from 1998 UO Health center Survey. University Of Oregon
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