One of 2014’s most light-hearted, feel-good stories has taken a very sad turn as 17-year-old Draven Rodriguez, whose petition to include his laser portrait with his cat in his high school yearbook went viral, committed suicide on Thursday.
The Times Union spoke with Draven’s dad, Jonathan Stewart. “He made friends wherever he went,” he said of his charismatic son. “He had friends all over the country — people he’d met at youth-leadership conferences, online, just around town.”
In reference to the potential yearbook photo that gained his son national exposure, Stewart says, “He wasn’t trying to stir things up with it. He honestly just wanted a silly photo because he had a great sense of humor.” Stewart’s insight is verified on Draven’s Instagram account where the genesis of the viral photo taken and edited by photographer Vincent Giordano and featuring fluffy former stray cat Mr. Bigglesworth, is still documented:
Draven commented on the above photo, “it’s my goal to have the most awkward senior photo.”
A part of Draven’s story that is often overlooked is that the petition to have the photo included in the Schenectady High School yearbook was a preemptive one. From the petition page, which originally aspired to get 500 signatures, but would wind up with more than 7,500:
Hi all. This is my photo that should be going into the yearbook, but we know how finicky the school systems can be. I’m hoping that with enough signatures, my school simply can’t turn this down.
Edit: To clarify, the school HAS NOT YET DECLINED this photo. This is my pre-emptive strike just in case such a thing were to happen. I wanted as many backers as possible before the deadline of September 15th.
Schenectady High School’s principal, Diane Wilkinson, did end up rejecting the photo due to school policy, but showing she was a good sport, she worked out a compromise with Draven that resulted in a new photo to promote animal rescue that included Wilkinson and her rescued Chihuahua, Rodriguez:
Laser-cat kid gets photo in yearbook — with principal
http://t.co/dMmzIwtZM7 (photo by Vincent Giordano) pic.twitter.com/62oiU5tIKE
— WGRZ (@WGRZ) September 29, 2014
Meanwhile, friends and family are expressing their grief and fond memories of Draven on his Facebook wall, including some previous yearbook photos of Draven that show the laser cat photo was just the last in a long line:
Rest in peace Draven.
