New College Mourns Deaths of Student Jessica Wantz and Alumna Muriel Avellaneda

Sadness descended over the campus today as administration circulated news about the recent deaths of two members of the New College community.  First-year student Jessica Wantz passed away on Saturday, January 9, following a sledding accident in her hometown of New Castle, Indiana, while New College alumna Muriel Avellaneda died in Gainesville, Florida, on Sunday, January 3, following complications from an extended illness.

“The untimely deaths of two young women who exhibited such promise would be a tragedy on any campus,” said New College President Mike Michalson in announcing the sad news. “But at a small school like New College the impact of losses such as these is even more deeply felt.  Our hearts go out to the families of both Jessica and Muriel.”

Jessica Wantz, 19, had just completed her first semester at New College and had traveled home to visit family when she was tragically killed during a sledding accident on Friday evening.  According to reports from the Associated Press and others, Wantz and her boyfriend, James Bowling, were enjoying a fun evening in New Castle’s Memorial Park when the sled they were riding on crashed into a water well building.  Jessica suffered severe injuries to her head and brain as a result of the accident and died several hours later at an Indianapolis hospital.  Bowling, 17, suffered a concussion and hip fracture as a result of the accident but is expected to recover fully.

Jessica was a 2009 high school graduate of the prestigious Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities in Muncie, Indiana, a school that has sent numerous highly-qualified students to New College.  Noted by friends and administrators as being compassionate, kind and extremely bright, she was heavily recruited by New College and was one of the inaugural recipients of the New College Mathematics and Science Award, an achievement award for outstanding students in the sciences and math that was introduced this fall.

To honor Jessica’s memory, students at the College have announced that they will hold an informal memorial service in her honor this evening at 6 p.m. in Palm Court.  President Michalson said that he is in contact with Jessica’s parents to determine their wishes regarding funeral arrangements and other memorial services in Jessica’s honor as well.

Muriel Avellaneda, 32, was born in Argentina in 1977 but moved to Gainesville, Florida, with her parents Andrés and Margarita in 1979.  She graduated from Oak Hall School in Gainesville in 1996 and went on to earn her bachelor’s degree from New College in 2001.  She also held a master’s degree from Florida State University.  She died in Gainesville on January 3 while visiting her parents for the holidays.

According to friends, Muriel was an expert in older and contemporary rock music, read American and international literature and philosophy in three languages, wrote poetry and fiction, loved cats, shoes, books and the television show “Scrubs.”  In recent years she had turned to a study of Judaism and was considering conversion to the religion at the time of her death.

Bicultural and bilingual, Muriel had recently moved to Buenos Aires, where she was starting a career in translation and the teaching of English as a foreign language. Her family has requested that donations may be made in her honor to the Alachua County Humane Society (http://www.alachuahumane.org/home/) and to the National Alliance on Mental Illnesses (http://www.nami.org).

“The deaths of Jessica and Muriel remind us once again of how fragile as well as precious life is, and that is a very important thought as we begin this new year,” said President Michalson. “We will miss both of them dearly.”

For more information on the recent deaths of New College student Jessica Wantz and alumna Muriel Avellaneda, please contact the Office of Public Affairs at (941) 487-4150 or email [email protected].