The University of Georgia (UGA) and the Woodstock community have been mourning Laken Riley, 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University and a UGA Alpha Chi Omega sorority member, as well as Wyatt Banks, freshman at UGA and Kappa Sigma fraternity member. On Feb. 22, Riley was murdered during her run in Athens, Georgia near the intramural fields just a day after Banks took his own life.
Riley graduated from River Ridge High School and attended Bascomb Elementary for some time with many former Etowah students. Many people and sports teams in Woodstock have been showing their support for Riley and her family with UGA colored (red, black, and white) bows. For example, the Cherokee High School Gymnastics team hosted a meet and gave all the gymnasts the bows to show support to the family.
“After hearing about Laken’s passing, it was very sad, especially seeing how many people around me knew her and her family. It was really powerful to me that I was able to show my support for her by wearing the UGA colored bows while competing,” Trinity Crowell, freshman, said.
Not only has Riley’s death touched Woodstock, but it has reached the whole nation. At former U.S. President Donald Trump’s rally, Riley’s family was able to meet him before he went on stage, and he apologized for current U.S. President Joe Biden mispronouncing Riley’s name. Trump also expressed to them that the whole nation, including himself, were grieving over their daughter’s loss.
“The hearts of hundreds of thousands and indeed millions and millions of Americans and people worldwide, they are shattered alongside of your beautiful hearts. We share your grief,” Trump said.
UGA is one of the only universities in the nation that still does not currently have the blue light system (blue lights across campus that call police to the location where it was turned on), which many have now been calling for following the incident. There are lots of people that expressed online that they feel Riley would still be here today if UGA had blue lights, leading several more people to get on board to petition for them on campus.
“I think UGA needs to get blue lights because they need to do their best to promote the safety of their students, especially in a large SEC school. We have seen the consequences of no blue lights and should all the more adopt them into the culture at UGA,” Anna Wolfe, junior, said.
Not even 24 hours before Riley’s murder, Wyatt Banks, freshman at UGA, took his own life at Brumby Hall on Feb. 21. Banks, who was in school to get a degree in economics and political science, was a freshman at the UGA honors college. Following Banks’s death, the Greek life Kappa Sigma Lambda chapter created a GoFundMe to support his family as well as provide awareness about mental health. The GoFundMe has surpassed their goal of $100,000, with it currently sitting at $115,772.
“I know that mental health is a big issue and can cause a lot of problems if it is damaged, but hearing about Wyatt taking his own life in college just proves that point even more. I hope that when people hear about this tragedy, it just brings more attention to the importance of mental health,” Cooper Gilreath, senior, said.
Through all the chaos at UGA, people from across the country have been banding together to show their support and make change happen for the students’ safety at UGA.
