NORWICH – Almost everything has a price, including a formal education. But in losing their lives in November 2000, after unknowingly climbing into a vehicle manned by a drunk driver on the Colgate University campus in Hamilton, Norwich High School graduates Emily Collins, Katherine Almeter and Rachel Nargiso placed a priceless value on their memories, and the education they now provide.
Since 2003, their story – along with Kevin King’s, who was also killed in the one-vehicle accident – has been told at a number of colleges and universities, as well as other institutions, in an exhibit depicting the everyday intricacies of their personalities, relationships and the choices that led to all four of their untimely deaths, titled “Friends.”
“It shows their life, that they were real people,” said Rita Ashton, Nargiso’s mother. “There isn’t a student that didn’t walk out of that exhibit that couldn’t relate to them as students – you relate to them as people.”
Almeter’s father, Robert, said the exhibit’s collection of personal artifacts create a mystical quality in “Friends” that bonds visitors to the four victims, using the one thing they all had in common, life.
“Life is so precious. That is what’s so powerful. It’s message is almost subliminal,” Robert said. “It shows that life is something beautiful, something precious – and something fragile.”
However, of the 27 higher education institutions, high schools, and events the exhibit has been booked for since it opened at Siena College in November 2003, it has never been viewed at Colgate.
“It seems to, for some reason, have missed Colgate,” said “Friends” coordinator Dr. Andrew Wolfe, an assistant professor at SUNY IT in Utica, and the executive director of the Lewis Henry Morgan Institute, the exhibit’s sponsor.
Wolfe explained that “Friends” was originally scheduled to go to Colgate for the normal six-week schedule in 2004, but due to construction issues at the university, Wolfe said it was decided that the exhibit would be pushed back for the Fall semester of 2006. When the Dean of the College, Adam Weinberg, left Colgate prior to the fall of 2006, the appointment apparently slipped through the cracks in the transition.
“We haven’t heard from them,” Wolfe said. “No one from Colgate has called us.”
Charlotte Johnson, who replaced Weinberg, said she was not aware of the appointment when she took over as Dean, and is unsure how solidified the deal between Wolfe and Weinberg was. She said that there is strong support among faculty to bring the exhibit to the school, and that it should hopefully be finalized for either the current semester or the fall 2007 semester.
“It will happen here,” Johnson said. “The memory is still here. We are always cognizant of it, nor can we not be.”
According to numerous testimonials provided by visitors to the exhibit’s managers, “Friends” fosters a strong emotional response, and thought provoking messages, wherever it goes.
“Any good story can be taken a number of different ways. That’s what the exhibit does so well, it’s not imposing – you have to be drawn in,” said Almeter’s mother, Betsy. “People take so many different things away from it.”
Ashton hopes that Colgate hasn’t been avoiding hosting the display, and that they understand its importance outweighs any negative aspects that may be associated to the school as a result of the accident.
“It’s an important teaching tool,” she said. “The kids who go to the exhibit do what the girls were doing on that Friday night too – they were just doing what kids do.”
Created by Dr. Denis Foley, an Anthropology Professor at Union College, “Friends” is filled with personal artifacts collected from the victims – meant to tell their story beyond just words and pictures – including stuffed animals, trophies, golf clubs, journals, artwork, clothing, college IDs, items they had at the time of the accident, and a host of pictures of the three inseparable girls together, with one taken hours before they died. Also displayed are pictures of King with Robert Koester, who were friends since childhood.
“Next to walking into their rooms,” said Julie Almeter, Katherine’s sister, “it gives you a sense of who they were – even if you didn’t know them.”
Because of its popularity, a second version of the exhibit was created.
Johnson said she was unsure why the exhibit has yet to be displayed at the school where the accident occurred, but said that responsible drinking is a sought after goal not only at Colgate, but in institutions across the United States.
In the early hours of Saturday, Nov. 11, 2000, in a Jeep driven by then Colgate Junior Robert Koester of Troy – Collins, Almeter, and Nargiso, all 18, along with Koester’s friend Kevin King, 20, were killed when the vehicle went out of control and struck a tree on Oak Drive on the Colgate campus. Almeter was a first year student at Colgate; Collins and Nargiso were also both in their first year and visiting Almeter from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. King was a student at Hudson Valley Community College. Koester had a blood alcohol level of .17 when he picked up the three girls and their friend Elke Wagle, who survived the crash.
Koester was charged with four counts of vehicular manslaughter, and in a plea deal, received 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison back in December of 2001. According to the New York state Department of Corrections website, he was paroled on April 30, 2004.