Kooper Davis came across the border once with a friend to see a game in Levelland, northeast of Denver City, and another time with his father, Justin, to see a game in Seminole. They were even considering sending Kooper and Heather to Atlanta to live near one of the coaches hed trained with. He was a straight-A student and the quarterback for the Hobbs high school football team. The school capped attendance at its field, and required people to register for tickets online. I reached Justin Davis on the phone that Saturday, after learning of Koopers death from a mother in northwestern New Mexico whose daughter had also struggled with the absence of school and sports. Seth Titus lost two friends to suicide only months apart. 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 only thing that I was able to find was in his journal, was that he had wrote that he was going mad from staying at home all the time and that he just wanted to be able to go to school and play outside with his friends. After my meeting with Fuller, I went back to the church. According to Fox News, the Christmas tree was important for the mother as it has the ornaments hung by her son. You cant go to sporting events, you cant see your friends, you cant go to parties. Consequently, Davis and Glover petitioned the Supreme Court of . KOOPER DAVIS OBITUARY. And these apologies are just some of the last words that loved ones will ever hear as they die alone.. Heather Davis' son, Kooper, died in December of last year, Southwest News Service (SWNS) reports. 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. If you share republished stories on social media, wed appreciate being tagged in your posts. Definitive explanations were, of course, impossible to come by. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as theyre published. Junior year is key for students, like Kooper, hoping to play football in college. They allowed only for elementary-school instruction, and required a district to stay below an average of eight new cases per day per 100,000 residents over a two-week period. The Fifth Circuit affirmed Davis and Glover's convictions and sentences. As he left, he told Sam, in typically unabashed fashion, Love you. Love you, too, Sam responded. New Mexico's Hidden Tragedy: The Suicide Problem Plaguing Our Youth He liked his teachers, and they liked him. Kooper was very involved in and loved being part of his church family as well as being a Christian. As the hot Southwestern summer dragged on, Kooper Davis and his teammates placed faith in that possibility. (Perhaps the only indicator of youth distress that is falling reports of child abuse and neglect, which dropped about 40% early in the pandemic is nonetheless worrisome because experts suspect it is the reporting that is declining, not the frequency of the abuse.). From the citys eastern edge to the Texas line is barely more than two miles. Junior Cooper Davis's story brings awareness to drug abuse After repeatedly broken promises for his sports teams and school life to return in any shape whatsoever, high-school junior and promising athlete Kooper Davis of Hobbs also died by suicide. 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. Kooper Davis's Home | MaxPreps His home and away jerseys, his school backpack and a school photograph were also displayed. Nationwide, deaths by suicide in the 10-to-24 age group increased by half between 2007 and 2018, a trend that has been linked to multiple factors, from the growing availability of guns to the spread of smartphones and social media. We do not generally permit translation of our stories into another language. Cooper's family hopes to use his story to . After the death of junior Cooper Davis on Sunday, Aug. 29, the school has taken the opportunity to recognize the issues that come with the increasing availability and abuse of drugs. Fact-based, independent journalism is needed now more than ever. On Sunday, Dec. 6, as semester finals were getting underway for school, Kooper was at church as usual, dressed as a baby for a monthly skit he and Sam did for the little kids. They eagerly did so, several dozen of them bunched together, beaming for the camera. And now, after the death of a boy that many of them saw as linked to those restrictions, they were effectively, saying, screw it. There always seems like theres something new to cry about.. After I chatted with Sam, I walked with his father back to his office. Theyve got so much time on their hands, he said. Kooper often said that suddenly the two biggest loves of his life . I want him to tickle the babies while I go eat, she said. Kooper was very involved in and loved being part of his church family as well as being a Christian. 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, Statewide in New Mexico, the restrictions resulted in zero high schools or middle schools reopening anywhere in the state. For student-athletes aspiring to play in college, junior year is key. 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. The parking lot was jammed with oversized pickups, and the sanctuary was standing room only. Koopers been Justins rock. She recounted all their morning chats together, after his workout sessions. Nationwide, meanwhile, President Bidens push to reopen schools was explicitly leaving out high schools, leaving millions of teenagers with the likelihood of remote learning through the end of the school year. I seen a lot of disappointment, he said. 866-495-5172. Martinez said hed be glad to have Kooper and that he was welcome to join one of their four-person practice pods that very day. The football coach, Ken Stevens, could sense the morale plunging. On Friday nights, high schools still played football, with fans in the stands. I get the fear level, but we see models that show it can be done. Whats happening is that were taking away high points in peoples lives that give them reward and meaning. 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. Students wore masks in the hallways and administrators did contact tracing for positive cases of coronavirus, but everything else went pretty much as usual, including sports. Kooper procrastinated, as usual, but now also found it harder to focus when deadlines hit. Finally, the nationwide surge in gun violence since the start of the pandemic has included, in many cities, a sharp rise in crimes involving juveniles, including many killed or arrested during what would normally be school time. 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. Democrats Are Sacrificing American Kids' Lives To Get More Power Hobbs students, parents come together to protest continued shutdown It was unnerving to watch: lots of people, few masks, no windows. 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. 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 them, the primary release from the hours staring at the laptop screen would be sports, and for us, the answer was clear: My wife and I would let them play. 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? 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. 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. Watch popular content from the following creators: cl(@chelsleigh2020), mckayla(@mckayla..pierce), angelroseeee12(@roseeeeeeee_0), Lily DeSciscio(@lilymdesciscio), taylorholdridge99(@egdirdlohrolyat22) . This proved a godsend, a way for the boys to keep being active outdoors and around other kids, doing something they loved to do. But it was still hard. She specifically tells him that there is nothing left for him there . The coronavirus pandemic has been not only a health catastrophe, but an epic failure of national government. Allow us that opportunity.. If you use canonical metadata, please use the ProPublica URL. His parents began to notice how much the disruption and uncertainty was wearing on their normally buoyant son. High school football practice has resumed, with some restrictions, in Hobbs. All he knew was that Kooper had been upset about the closures. 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. (By contrast, Kentuckys daily threshold was 25 cases per 100,000 people and Oklahomas was 50 cases. He started playing organized football at age 5 and could not get enough of it. The district, which offered daily and weekly tallies of cases on its website, determined that the vast share of transmissions seemed to be happening outside school, as research was finding to be the case in other places, too. That may have an effect over time. Texass response to the coronavirus was freewheeling. Since Im a junior, college is starting to cross my mind, and without this essential year of learning, I feel completely unprepared for college. Fingers crossed, and I believe in you that we can get this done.. Schools in New Mexico partially reopened in February, after being mostly closed for nearly a year. This includes publishing or syndicating our work on platforms or apps such as Apple News, Google News, etc. Find service information, send flowers, and leave memories and thoughts in the Guestbook for your loved one. When he is finally able to return she is on her death-bed, surrounded by her own family. Kooper Davis came across the border once with a friend to see a game in Levelland, northeast of Denver City, and another time with his father, Justin, to see a game in Seminole. Two Hobbs men killed in Eddy Co. accident - Hobbs News Sun These are kids without mental health issues, with good families, kids that are loved, she said. Meg Gleghorn, left, is a sophomore at Hobbs High School and has chosen to continue with remote learning, while many of her peers have opted to return to part-time in-person learning. If we could have them all week, this is the best place for them to be.. When the youth minister at church once apologized for missing one of his high school games, Kooper reassured him that it was okay, that he did not depend on an audience: I play for myself, he said. All Obituaries | Chapel of Hope | Hobbs NM funeral home and cremation And Kooper was a great student of the quarterback position; he had the intangibles, his coaches said. Like mosquitos carrying a tropical disease., In Los Angeles, county supervisor Hilda Solis, a former Obama labor secretary, urged young people to stay home, noting the risk of them infecting older members of their households. My family was among those facing these decisions. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations in memory of Kooper to be made to Christian Center Church. 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. They should circulate less or will become vectors. Lets respect the ones who wanna stay home and respect the ones who are ready to go back!!. The Texas Classroom Teachers Association had nowhere near the sway of unions in other states. Football went forward, too. The boys respective high school and rec-league baseball seasons were canceled last spring, but their club teams were still playing through the summer and fall. New Mexico as a whole had lost 3,145 people, two-hundredths of a percentage point higher than Texas in per capita terms. A study in the March 2021 issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, of people aged 11 to 21 visiting emergency rooms found significantly higher rates of suicidal ideation during the first half of 2020 (compared to 2019), as well as higher rates of suicide attempts, though the actual number of suicides remained flat. 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. Posted on . She had swung the other way on reopening. Making it especially tough, he said, was the nearby contrast. Kooper Davis could only watch from 30 miles away from New Mexico while the Texas teams played and the New Mexico teams did not. Read the full story. Go deeper Andrew Solender Christian Center Church4024 W. College Lane, Hobbs NM 88240Tel: 1-575-392-5166, 2023 Chapel of Hope. There were many kids in the audience, and some were wearing raspberry-colored shirts with Kooper 10 written on them. All of our moods changed, she said. No doubt, if my son had been in school on Monday this wouldnt have happened, he said. They were required to wear masks in the hallways or while moving around a classroom, but many teachers allowed them to take their masks off at their desks, judging the spacing sufficient, though the teachers kept their own masks on. She began by reading some lines Kooper had written in his journal, including his paraphrase of a verse of Scripture, If your enemy is hurting give him food. As many of these experts have noted, the cost of restrictions on youth has gone beyond academics. steve dunn katu salary how did kooper davis of hobbs die - aileec.com how did kooper davis of hobbs die - tecis.in The next day, a Monday evening, Kooper and his classmates held a demonstration for reopening school and school sports, one of several across the county that day. A growing body of evidence suggests that younger children are the least likely to transmit the virus, but that as children grow older, their capacity for transmission approaches that of adults. Karyme Beltran has also struggled with the pandemic restrictions at Hobbs High. Football Recruiting / New Mexico / Hobbs, NM / Hobbs High School / Kooper Davis. Im glad we care about this now, but our state was high pre-pandemic, Kelly said. James parents said there were no obvious signs that their son was struggling. Kids have been paying a big price for the lockdowns and for some kids its just too much to handle. Man, this sucks, he told his teammates. The Lost Year: What the pandemic cost teenagers Kooper Davis Student at Carson-Newman College Selmer, Tennessee, United States. 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. Not only would New Mexico remain one of a handful of states to bar high school sports, but practices would now be limited to just four players per coach. Whats going on with those other kids?. On Sunday mornings, Kooper would be back at the church for his youth-group service and to help lead sessions for the younger kids. On Friday nights, high schools still played football, with fans in the stands. The initial response is not as difficult as something thats stressful, but over time, the anhedonia, the loss of pleasure, is going to drive you down a lot more., Even before the coronavirus arrived, teen mental health was a cause for growing concern. Not only that, were losing years of their educational development., Kinney said his brother-in-law, also a pastor, had become seriously ill with coronavirus, and he did not doubt its danger. 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. But at some point in ways that werent evident to those around him, Kooper was overwhelmed. We just have to weigh the good and the bad. To avoid dense crowds, the band had held three performances, with several hundred people attending each. how did kooper davis of hobbs die. When youd see him smile, you didn't know what was going on under that mop of hair he had, he said. But thats me being selfish. 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. Kooper Davis Obituary (2003 - 2020) | Hobbs, New Mexico - Echovita Her grandfather recently died of COVID-19. It has, instead, been left largely up to parents to monitor their children for signs of declining mental health as they determine whether to allow their kids to return to college or summer camp, to have a friend over, to go to the mall. Davis and Glover appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit claiming that the residual clause of 924 (c) (3)'s "crime of violence" definition was unconstitutionally vague. Theres a difference between a stressor that makes your life unpleasant and intolerable and a stressor that takes away good things, he said. Numerous factors had affected these outcomes, needless to say. The mother ensured the tree stayed the same way the way her son had decorated it and therefore, she wrapped it up with cellophane. 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. More than just scholastic considerations were driving this. As time has gone on, evidence has grown on one side of the equation: the harm being done to children by restricting their circulation. There is the well-documented fall-off in student academic performance at schools that have shifted to virtual learning, which, copious evidence now shows, is exacerbating racial and class divides in achievement. Thats the frustration, he said. Weve got districts 30 miles away doing it safely, associate superintendent Gene Strickland said. Katrina, a prenatal educator, had been trying for months to draw attention to the mental health needs of Hobbs young people. They mostly watched video lessons on their own, using an online curriculum called Edgenuity. 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. All Rights Reserved. Kooper Davis's Football Recruiting Profile - NCSASports.org This confounded Hobbs school officials, especially because they could see open schools across the border in Texas. And the psychological stress that the pandemic has produced for so many Americans of all ages is unlike so many more acute crises that we might experience in life, said Nick Allen, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Oregon. Or to put it more broadly: How much of normal youth should they be asked to sacrifice? Travis was born in 1972 in Hobbs to Patrick Collins and the late Marla Bood Weber. Were losing their leadership. In New Mexico, mental health experts say, the factors also include high rates of depression on Native American reservations, and rural isolation in general. The younger one would ask why he couldnt get McDonalds, which she preferred, on the way back, and hed explain that traffic made it easier for him to do them in this order. Allow us that opportunity., Kooper Davis had always thrived in school. I want him to come in from football practice and tell me how practice went. Students were attending five days a week, without the hassle of hybrid schedules used in much of the country. Those weekends remain for me some of the only redeeming moments of an awful year. Texass response to the coronavirus was freewheeling. I fear for all the kids, he said. But the start of the school year arrived, and there was no school. Ive heard it all, Fuller said. Koopers teammates on the Hobbs High School football team. They were among the strictest in the country. This would have entailed sending Kooper to live with Heathers brother. Then the screen played a long loop of photos and videos of Kooper: wearing a Halloween costume, holding his younger sister on the beach, wearing braces, buried in sand, grinning behind Justin and Heather as they kissed at their wedding, attending a Dallas Cowboys game, singing in a school musical, holding a newspaper with his name in a sports story, sitting on a hay bale, holding the newborn twins, wearing a tux for a dance. Kooper was very involved in and loved being part of his church family as well as being a Christian. Kooper Davis's Obituary (2003 - 2020) - Hobbs, NM - Legacy.com 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. If you like our stories, mind sharing this with a friend? The Lost Year: What the Pandemic Cost Teenagers 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. Hobbs Municipal Schools had an enrollment of about 10,000 students last year, but are down around 10%, loosing around 1,200 students this year, according to enrollment numbers compiled by Hobbs Assistant Superintendent for Data and Assessment Rene Cantu. There are the frequent memorials of another sort, to the victims of vehicle accidents. Its baffling to us to figure out why he didnt come to us., Suicide is ultimately an unfathomable act, but Justin said he was sure of one thing. He had won over his ninth-grade English teacher, Jennifer Espinoza, with his willingness to engage on the works they were reading: The Outsiders, Romeo and Juliet, To Kill a Mockingbird., He was very opinionated about why a character did this, or whatever something meant, Espinoza said.