Aviously

I want to a decent sized elementary school in Brooklyn, with ~30 kids in my class and ~90 in the grade.

Spending 10 years there I got to know most of the people in my grade pretty well, at least by name and face…after all you are just kids and not thinking much about others outside your class.

But then I went to a small high school, and none of my 90 elementary classmates went there as well.

Heading into a CUNY for college the odds of hitting one of my schoolmates wasn’t high, as I had been to a very Orthodox Jewish elementary school, of which most of the people went on to even stronger Orthodox high schools, which pushed for further Jewish education after high school, and mostly urged against secular college.
Throughout my time at CUNY Brooklyn College, and the few years that followed, I’ve run into about 3 elementary classmates at college.

Besides for the 3 I re-met at college, I ran into another handful over the years at random times, in random locations, but I don’t have any real connection to the MYRCB class of 2003.

I’ve picked up bits and pieces of information over the years of classmates getting married and having kids, but when I opened a local paper this weekend, I was faced with a new first: The first passing of a classmate.

On Friday night, January 30th, Ari Levin had a couple of drinks before heading to bed. Unfortunately during the night, while lying on his back, he choked on some vomit, and by the time it was noticed there wasn’t anything that responding EMTs could do for him.
The full story could be read HERE, and a tribute from his family (as well as info on a Memorial Fund) can be read on page 114 of this publication.
RIP Ari Levin, 1989-2016