Island seeks solace, answers in wake of student death
BY STEVE SHEPPARD INDEPENDENT WRITER
As the island comes to grips with the third death of a Nantucket High School student since last February, the schools, town government and island health officials have pledged to work together in hopes of averting future tragedies.

Will Soverino

Dr. Robert Macy, the founder and executive director of the Boston-based Children's Trauma Recovery Foundation, addressed about 200 islanders in the high school auditorium Monday afternoon, seeking community involvement to help teens in crisis. Dr. Macy came to the island at the behest of Peter Swenson of Nantucket Behavioral Health Services and the state department of mental health.

His visit came less than a week after the death last Tuesday of 16-year-old William Soverino last Tuesday, a popular student/athlete and member of the junior class. The cause of his death is pending the report of the state medical examiner.

At Nantucket High School, the shock of Soverino's sudden passing hit both students and teachers hard.

"High school students shouldn't be dealing with situations like this," Nantucket High School swimming and diving coach Jim Pignato, who coached Soverino for the past two years, said last Friday. "It's hard enough for adults to come to terms with it." Pignato said Soverino, was "a great kid, well-liked, funny. He had a lot of good friends, good close friends who really cared about him."

Soverino loved baseball, and was a member of the varsity squad, but Pignato said it was his friendships with other swimmers that led him to the pool. "He came to swimming because of his friends and he put a lot of time and work into the sport. He was starting to get really good."

A 1998 graduate of Nantucket High School himself, Pignato said his experiences as a student could not compare with the tragedies today's student body has faced. "There was nothing like this," he said.

He also said he did not see any correlations or trends associated with the student deaths. "We've had three tragedies, but they are three separate incidences. You can't be grouping them together."

"It's been hard for our students," high school principal George Kelly said Monday afternoon. "But I'm very proud of how they have come together to support one another. I think they have been very sensitive to the Soverino family, to Will's memory and to each other."

Although other high school sporting events took place over the weekend, last Saturday's scheduled swim meet with Nauset was postponed. A funeral service for Will Soverino was held Saturday at the Unitarian Church and was attended by hundreds of islanders.

The island as a whole was saddened and wearied by yet another student death, and Police Chief William Pittman said the schools need the community's support. "People are going to point fingers at the schools and it's not them, it's the whole community," he said. "What I've found since I've been here on Nantucket is that it's a bigger community than I realized; one that is suffering from big-city problems, even though it has a small town feel."

For its part, according to School Committee chairman Susan Genthner, "the school is looking to long-term solutions." One of these is the implementation of a system-wide student assistance program developed with the assistance of Nantucket Behavioral Health Services.

School Committee member and Nantucket medical examiner Dr. Timothy Lepore said the schools are committed to the welfare of the island's students. He said a school adjustment counselor position is part of the new school budget, and that the schools also must address "a variety of issues: drugs and alcohol, the stresses our students are under. We have to cut down some of the stresses on the kids. Adolescence is a confusing time - it's not that we're doing a bad job, but I think we could do better."

Selectman Michael Kopko said Monday that "we tend to focus on the schools to look for reasons and solutions" but that the "selectmen are totally committed to the program" suggested by Dr. Macy, who has set up two dozen similar programs in the United States and 17 world-wide since 1995. Macy said his "program is very, very detailed" and would consist of an administrative team composed of town and school officials and include indepth training for 30 to 50 people, including parents, clergy, coaches, primary care physicians and other youth mentors. He said two training dates will be arranged in the next couple of weeks, and that his program's "protocols must be customized to Nantucket." He also said he is committed to the success of an island plan that, he noted, can't begin without the "permission and consent" of islanders. "This is the first of what we hope are many town meetings," he said Monday. "Once the team is in place, you will have access to me through that team."

Macy said Peter Swenson will be the on-island contact person at 228- 2689.

"It's your responsibility to understand what's most meaningful in your children's lives," Dr. Macy said. "The

only way to find out is to ask them." I