how we can improve upon what he’s created, but I know we’re certainly going to try.” “We’re pretty excited (about leading), but also it’s a little scary because Ben has done so much,” Allison says. “Moving Forward won’t be the same without him.” From tragedy sprouts togetherness I t would be disingenuous to say the idea of Moving Forward came about on a whim. The truth is that it came during a time of mourning and sorrow around Gilbert Schools,
a time in which Ben, Adelaide, Weston, Dal- ton, and Aidan said enough is enough. The passing of classmate Nolan Clewell by suicide in early November of 2021 had a pro- found effect on Ben, who considered himself one of Nolan’s best friends prior to his death. It was the second such tragedy at Gilbert Schools in as many years; Class of 2022 member Henry Owen took his own life in September of 2020. Following Nolan’s death, the Melody house became a refuge for many of the members of
the Class of 2023. In the days following the tragedy, Ben estimates anywhere between 15 and 80 classmates were at his house at various times during the days. Kids talked. Cried. Mourned. Remembered. And they did it all together. There were games, there were laughs, and there was peace. No hidden agendas. No so- cial circles ostracized. Ben remembers it like this: “It was just really cool how all of the groups were mixing and playing games and we all thought, why can’t we be like this all of the time? How can we make this not stop here? How are we going to grow as a community and student body?” Weston and Adelaide were among the stu- dents that gravitated to the Melody house in the days following Nolan’s death. At first, they were hesitant to join the group; they didn’t really know Ben and wondered if they would fit in. Soon enough though, they knew they belonged. Everyone belonged. “Ben was scary,” Weston says with a smirk as he gives Ben a glance. “I was not friends with Ben until he invited me over to the house.”
Fun at the pool during a summer Moving Forward event.
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