More than 1,300 members of the Wolfpack community gathered on Stafford Commons Tuesday evening to mourn the loss of a beloved student, Joseph “Joey” Alexander Banks.
Joey’s closest friends remembered him as a remarkable student, musician and friend. A group of Joey’s friends from high school made the drive from UNC-Chapel Hill to be among NC State students, faculty and staff to honor and reflect on the life of their friend.
“He was the wittiest guy I ever knew. Brilliant. A music prodigy,” said Brian Rock, a friend who attended Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines with Joey and is now a sophomore at UNC-CH. “He could hear any song and play it by ear on guitar or piano. It was some Mozart-level stuff.”
Joey died after falling from a balcony of Dabney Hall shortly after 4 p.m. Monday. University Police officials said Monday that there is no reason to suspect foul play, but as of Tuesday investigators had not made a ruling about the circumstances surrounding his death.
The solemn crowd filed onto the lawn shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday as acoustic music played softly and Union Activities Board and Student Government members handed out candles. Through tears, several speakers told the rapt crowd about Joey’s impact and the importance of taking advantage of mental health resources on campus.
Friends, students and university administrators stood together for several minutes in silence with Wolfpack spirit signs raised high and more than 1,200 candles flickering. Tissues emblazoned with the logo of university’s mental health awareness campaign “Stop the Stigma” were passed out to the grieving crowd.
All of Joey’s close friends agreed that while he was a quiet guy, he was one of the smartest and most talented people they knew.
Joey graduated from Pinecrest High School in May 2015 at the top of his class, according to Jerome Lavelle, the associate dean of academic affairs in the College of Engineering. While still in high school, he took courses at his local community college, receiving so many credit hours for math and science that he came to NC State with a sophomore standing, though this was only his first semester here.
“I met him in kindergarten and in the 18 years that I knew him, his hair and his shoes and his glasses were always the same,” said Catherine Bellew, Joey’s friend from high school and a sophomore at UNC-CH.
In high school, Joey volunteered at an animal shelter and a soup kitchen in Southern Pines.
Besides having academic strengths, Joey was also musically gifted. He belonged to the National Piano Guild, was All-State in the viola and played guitar.
Derrick Foskey, Joey’s high school AP Music Theory teacher, remembered the time he had to reprimand Joey for talking with friends during class.
“I went out and talked to all of them one-on-one and the emotion that Joey had, the respect that Joey showed me at that time and just where we went from that point to the end of the year just changed my life,” Foskey said. “He cared a lot about everyone more than he let people know, and in really sincere ways. He was a really great person.”
Lindsey Camp grew up with Joey and was best friends with one of his siblings. At the vigil, Camp, a junior studying animal science, expressed her shock, remembered him as a happy person and shared memories of his musical talent.
“Every time I went over there he was playing the piano,” she said. “He was really talented. He would play anything, he was that good.”
Joey is survived by his father and mother Thomas and Wanda Banks of Southern Pines and his siblings Thomas, Becky and Ivy Banks.
Helen Shaw, a senior studying business, attended the vigil and said she witnessed Joey’s death Monday near the Free Expression Tunnel.
“I felt like after seeing him yesterday and seeing him there, I just wanted to come out and pay respects,” Shaw said through tears.
A few yards away from the vigil in Wolf Plaza, Chad Butts, a freshman studying engineering, said he didn’t have flowers to honor Joey’s life, so he started draping one of the wolf statues he emblazoned with Joey’s initials with paper-chain links. The other two wolves had paper teardrops streaming from their eyes.
“When I started it I didn’t really have a meaning for the links, it was meant to be ambiguous,” Butts said. “Yesterday and today there were some people who were just ready to move on and not slow down and think about what this meant—I just wanted people to think about how they can make a difference. I didn’t know him, and I felt so bad that I didn’t.”
Representatives from Student Government, NC State’s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, College of Engineering, Minority Engineering Program and Counseling Center all spoke of the plentiful resources available to students on campus.
“I want to bring a very simple message to you tonight: you are not alone,” said NC State’s Counseling Center Director Monica Osborn. “The Counseling Center’s doors will always be open to you. Not just today, but tomorrow and the day after that. It’s as simple as walking through the door and saying ‘I need help.’”
Jessica Gomez, a member of the Minority Engineering Program*, also expressed the importance of talking to someone.
“Talk to a friend, talk to anyone,” Gomez said. “I’m OK if all 36,000 of you come talk to me.”
Avi Aggarwal, president of the NC State chapter of NAMI, encouraged students to visit the Counseling Center.
“The Counseling Center is one of our best resources on campus,” Aggarwal said. “It is normal to feel guilt, responsibility, anger, numbness and many other feelings during a time like this. We all grieve differently … We will all still be hurting for a while.”
Student Body President Khari Cyrus said mental health was a big part of his campaign, and he planned on personally utilizing counseling services following the vigil. He urged students to take action to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
“We are a Pack and whenever we lose a member, we mourn, we hurt and we grieve, but that is simply not enough,” Cyrus said. “We must be supportive of all our students. We must educate ourselves of the warning signs of depression, anxiety and other forms of mental illness. We must be allies to our fellow members of the Wolfpack expecting and knowing that they would do the same for us.”
Students who are grieving this loss or dealing with mental health concerns are encouraged to seek counseling. The Counseling Center is located on the second floor of the Student Health Center and is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday. Emergency counseling services are available for students 24/7 at 919-515-2423.
Thiago De Souza and Lindsay Smith contributed to the reporting of this article.
*Editor’s note, Aug. 23, 2019: Jessica Gomez’s involvement with the Minority Engineering Program was updated for accuracy.
A crowd of over 1300 people holds up their candles in rememberance of Joseph Alexander Banks, a freshman. The crowd had gathered in Stafford Commons (outside of Talley) for the university-held vigil held on Tuesday night.
