And it was so hard for someone of Landons age to grasp time; the six weeks of closure seemed like forever. On Sunday mornings, Kooper would be back at the church for his youth-group service and to help lead sessions for the younger kids. Its okay to put our stories on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories. Artesia loves you, said the bus from Artesia. Heather Davis' son, Kooper, died in December of last year, Southwest News Service (SWNS) reports. This was a problem, because he loved both of them. Whatever it takes, said Rick Martinez, the principal. They were even considering sending Kooper and Heather to Atlanta to live near one of the coaches hed trained with. Justin, who works for a company that services oil-field equipment and runs a lawn care business on the side, noticed the reaction his tall, athletic son was getting in the Seminole stands. On Oct. 16, Kooper shared a grim claim from a state representative on his Facebook account, which he seldom used: The New Mexico Athletic Association reports there have been 8 student-athlete suicides since March 20., Kooper looked so alone and hunched over as he worked that Heather one day posted a picture of him online to share his struggle with others. Fingers crossed, and I believe in you that we can get this done.. You are free to republish it so long as you do the following: Heather Davis comforts Madasyn Culver after a youth church service in Hobbs, New Mexico in late February. We just have to weigh the good and the bad. Were losing their leadership. The schools in Denver City, population 5,000, had shut down amid the coronavirus lockdowns in the spring of 2020, but there wasnt really any question about whether the 1,700-student district would reopen schools in the fall. To send flowers You cant use our work to populate a website designed to improve rankings on search engines or solely to gain revenue from network-based advertisements. They didnt want to talk., But then she herself had gotten the virus she wasnt sure where and its severity had hit home, even before her partners death. His parents began to notice how much the disruption and uncertainty was wearing on their normally buoyant son. I had an open relationship with my son, he said. Man, this sucks, he told his teammates. Heather came to the stage with Koopers sisters. Do we fear everyone coming back and possibly getting COVID, or do we fear losing another student more?. On Dec. 7, 2020, the sharp, successful kid with a bright future took his own life. Is Biden leaving wiggle room in his decision to run for re-election? Its that years video that recruiters will look at, and that years grades that admissions officers will scrutinize. You know, marginalizing our teens for other people that are high-risk, what do you pick? In reading that, she had drawn a connection to American children who were being forced into a whole different way of life during the pandemic. In "New Amsterdam" Season 3, Dr. Vijay Kapoor (Anupam Kher) contracted COVID-19, with much of the early part of the season revolving around his illness and the attempts by the hospital staff . Thats what you think when youre 16: Nobody is dealing with what Im dealing with. Not to mention, he said, that the closures have simply given kids too many empty hours. But thats me being selfish. But Heather and Justin had just had newborn twins. Kooper was born in Hobbs NM on August 9, 2003 and spent his childhood in Lovington before moving to Hobbs with his family, Father Justin Davis, Mother Heather Davis and his younger siblings, where he was an honors student, athlete and student leader. For high school junior Kooper Davis, whose family lives 10 minutes west of the border, this meant no school and no football. All Obituaries | Chapel of Hope | Hobbs NM funeral home and cremation Its been stressful at times, said the district superintendent, Patrick Torres. States, and frequently individual school districts sometimes even individual schools and sports leagues have been forced to grapple with emerging and occasionally conflicting science that has sought to decode the mysteries of a newly discovered virus. We need to be back on the field. He missed football so much that, on some Friday evenings, he headed across the state line to Texas to watch a game. March 8, 2021: Due to an inconsistency in data provided by the National Governors Association, an earlier version of this article misrepresented three states COVID-19 case thresholds for reopening schools. Travis Wade Collins passed away unexpectedly at his home on Sunday, February 26th 2023. Everything looks the same on either side of the Texas-New Mexico border in the great oil patch of the Permian Basin. Jennifer Espinoza got word from fellow teachers, one of whom asked her, Hey, did you have Connor Davis? The name meant nothing to her, but, she asked, did they mean Kooper Davis? All Rights Reserved. Allow us that opportunity., Kooper Davis had always thrived in school. The Fifth Circuit affirmed Davis and Glover's convictions and sentences. After being in Denver City, things seemed emptier than ever at the Hobbs high school complex in normal times, the center of communal life in Hobbs. Even if he was wrong or going in the wrong direction, he wasnt afraid to put his thoughts out there. It was a great class in general, she said: Those kids fed off each other. She said her friends, parents, job and soccer practice have helped her cope. October 20, 2021. These are kids without mental health issues, with good families, kids that are loved, she said. 866-495-5172. For Hobbs and the rest of Lea County, population 70,000, that meant no more than five new cases per day in the whole county. The team in Seminole, 20 miles south, needed to cancel some games as the result of player quarantines, but Denver City managed to get through the fall without any cancellations, though there were some weeks where the roster got thin. Still, the news of an 11-year-old taking his life after riding his bike to a field near his house had the power to shock in Hobbs. Junior Cooper Davis's story brings awareness to drug abuse Almost every weekend, wed be back on near-empty highways, staying in near-empty motels, subsisting on endless takeout chicken sandwiches whenever we couldnt find an outdoor place for a meal. He is going to continue to use him to impact those around him, and Gods glory will shine through.. Justin and Heather told me how much comfort they were taking in the outpouring over Kooper, especially among his classmates. This meant they would mostly just be lifting weights, never mind that this often meant having many players in the weight room at a time (albeit in four-player pods), seemingly a riskier proposition than a regular practice outdoors. If high school teams arent playing football, there is no football being played. As for teachers, there was no option: Their job was in the classroom. He was thinking about Stanford because it was a top academic school with a good football team. Doctors are concerned about possible increases in childhood obesity no surprise with many kids housebound in stress-filled homes while addiction experts are warning of the long-term effects of endless hours of screen time when both schoolwork and downtime stimulation are delivered digitally. My last visit in Hobbs was to the home of Jennifer Espinoza, Koopers favorite teacher. Our sons, now 16 and 13, have had fully remote learning in their Baltimore public schools for nearly a year now. Sad, its so sad. Kooper Davis, a football and basketball player then took a turn on the mike with Strickland, who plays football, wrestles, and runs track & field, set to close things up. (The mass exposure did not lead to any reported local outbreaks.). Its honestly ridiculous. One of the more heartbreaking conversations that our healthcare workers share is about these last words when children apologize to their parents and grandparents for bringing COVID into their homes for getting them sick, she told the Los Angeles Times. And then Kooper had died, a week later. Koopers been Justins rock. She recounted all their morning chats together, after his workout sessions. Im glad we care about this now, but our state was high pre-pandemic, Kelly said. Frogxit: Harry and Meghan get what they asked for, Knock it down: Albuquerque tries novel approach to crime fighting, California high-speed rail costs going up and projected ridership going down, When you go after the Queen Consort, you'd best not miss, California's drought situation has improved dramatically, Not so fast: CA NOT going to shutter nasty old Diablo Canyon nuke plant, Don't expect Biden to drop by East Palestine. The Lost Year: What the Pandemic Cost Teenagers Melanie Blanchard, Jason Scott, and Donna Sanchez, are here at our office and ready to help you buy your ( View post) Feb 15 Kooper Davis Obituary (2003 - 2020) | Hobbs, New Mexico - Echovita Theyve got so much time on their hands, he said. How come 10, 15 miles away, these kids can compete, can live a somewhat normal life?. New Mexico's Hidden Tragedy: The Suicide Problem Plaguing Our Youth He played basketball, too, but football had his heart. how did kooper davis of hobbs die. These funds will go to future scholarship funds, football boosters and basketball boosters. Stringent guidelines for reopening schools in New Mexico meant students in Hobbs have experienced the pandemic differently than students across the border in Texas. He attended Mills Elementary school before moving to Roswell NM, where he graduated from Goddard High School in 1991. If any of yall know anyone unable to leave their homes, I am willing to wait in line and pick up their groceries for them, or even run simple errands. Lost hope. Some players stopped showing up. Football at the teenage level differs from baseball in a crucial respect: It is based almost entirely around high schools, without a parallel universe of clubs and tournaments. The stage was dominated by balloons in black and yellow, the Hobbs High colors, and large white letters and numbers, aglow with lights, that spelled KD 10, Koopers jersey number. Michelle Lujan Grisham, took one of the most aggressive lockdown stances in the country, and issued stringent guidelines for school reopening, so stringent that Hobbs was allowed to bring back only a sliver of its students for in-person instruction. Read the full story. The students wore masks and sat spaced apart on the stands, holding signs that said Let Us Play and SOS Save Our Students. They had the tacit support of their coaches and many of their parents, some of whom had helped shoot a testimonial video that was going to be shown on the scoreboard screen. I get the fear level, but we see models that show it can be done. Its not necessarily that youre experiencing abuse, though some may be. In Prince Georges County, Maryland, a Washington, D.C., suburb where school buildings have remained closed, seven teenagers were charged with murder in just the first five weeks of this year. But the video wouldnt load right, so several students went onto the field to give impromptu speeches before the 175 or so people who were gathered there. As the pandemic carried through the summer, worrisome signals started appearing across the country. hanging on y ligaments He had won over his ninth-grade English teacher, Jennifer Espinoza, with his willingness to engage on the. Two Hobbs men were killed Tuesday morning in a rollover crash outside of Carlsbad and a third Hobbsan was injured. Find service information, send flowers, and leave memories and thoughts in the Guestbook for your loved one. From Hobbs to the Texas towns of Seminole and Denver City is a half-hour drive next door, by the standards of the vast Southwestern plains. Or to put it more broadly: How much of normal youth should they be asked to sacrifice? If I had read that before, I wouldnt have thought that he was planning on taking his own life because I think were all feeling a little crazy right now.. Any website our stories appear on must include a prominent and effective way to contact you. He started playing organized football at age 5 and could not get enough of it. Kooper was very involved in and loved being part of his church family as well as being a Christian. Participation in sports and a connection to school can have a profound protective effect, according to David Brent, a psychiatry professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Clockwise from top left: Cutter Cruz, Colton Graham, Easton Kuykendall and Caleb Hedrick. The parents ran the political gamut: liberals from Baltimore, conservatives from rural towns in Pennsylvania. The CDC has also recorded about 2,000 cases of an inflammatory syndrome that has afflicted some children after they contracted the virus, resulting in about 30 additional deaths. Rigby. Kooper was very involved in and loved being part of his church family as well as being a Christian. Already a member? On some Tuesdays and Thursdays, hed head to school for an afternoon session with the other quarterbacks, learning how to read defensive coverage. Initially, practices with up to 9 kids were allowed, which meant they could do some drills, but in October, the state reduced that to four students per coach. The parking lot was jammed with oversized pickups, and the sanctuary was standing room only. But Denver City and nearby small cities in West Texas opened schools.