Sigma Chi death

[alphalove13]

A brother of Sigma Chi at Florida Southern College (Lakeland, Florida) died following a Bid Day Slip-N-Slide party. He was set to graduate in May.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jan...ed-frat-event/

[TSteven]

Thank you for posting this.

Condolences to Brother Szwed's family and friends and the Epsilon Sigma Chapter. IHSV

[Scandia]

Poor young man. That is so sad. Injuries like that do require immediate attention.

[AGDee]

My heart goes out to his parents, brothers, family and friends. It's always so tragic when we lose a young life.

[SAEalumnus]

That's horrible.

[alphalove13]

PRESS RELEASES
Released: January 28, 2008

LAKELAND - Florida Southern College is in mourning again. A student has died, the second in the last few months.

"We're all trying to get through it together," said Ashley Burke.

Flowers are lying outside the Sigma Chi fraternity house, which just lost a former vice-president.

Michael Szwed died over the weekend after falling on a slip and slide during a Greek sponsored event. Investigators say Szwed was out drinking until early Saturday morning. They say he went to sleep for a few hours, and then began drinking again at 7:30.

A little later, he went to Bid Day, the day when fraternities ask new members to join. A fellow student told investigators that he took a hard fall on the slip and slide, and then went home alone.

That night, his roommate found him dead.

In an his initial report, The Polk Medical Examiner says Szwed died from a ruptured spleen, but stopped short of saying it was from his fall earlier in the day.

It could take more than a month for the ME to publish his final report. Bid Day is the highlight of rush week, and a big event for fraternities, sororities, even administrators.

"It was wonderful to be there," said Parker Willis, the president of Sigma Chi.

Only later, did the campus learn that Bid Day 2008 would be remembered for something else. Earlier this month, two Florida Southern twins had a terrible car crash on their way back to school. One was killed. The other survived.

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Florida Southern only has 2400 students- two deaths in a 3 week period. Its sad.

[nittanyalum]

This is truly awful. I can't imagine what his parents and family are going through. Good thoughts and prayers for them and all of his friends and brothers.

[SAEalumnus]

Originally Posted by alphalove13

Florida Southern only has 2400 students- two deaths in a 3 week period. Its sad.

That's got to be tough on such a small community!

[SWTXBelle]

It's just so tragic - especially since who would have thought that a fall on a slip n slide could have such a fatal outcome.

[twinkle555]

how horrible!!

[TSteven]

Sigma Chi Mourns Loss
1/28/2008
© 2008, Sigma Chi International Headquarters

Sigma Chi is stunned and saddened at the loss of 22-year-old Michael J. Szwed Florida Southern 2008, of Naples, Fla., who passed away on Saturday, Jan. 28. Szwed was a senior at Florida Southern College, where he was a member of Sigma Chi.

The loss of Szwed, the former Pro Consul, or vice president of his chapter, is a reminder of the frailty of life. Because of Szwed’s leadership on campus, his life touched many at Florida Southern, where students and faculty had been reeling from the loss of another well-known student earlier in the month. Our condolences go out to all who have been affected. We hold Szwed’s family in our thoughts and prayers as they go through this difficult time.

Visitation for Szwed will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. on Jan. 29, at Fuller Funeral Home, 1625 Pineridge Road, in Naples, Fla. Funeral services will be held the following day at 11 a.m. at St. Anne’s Catholic Church, which is at the corner of 3rd Street and 9th Avenue South in Naples.

In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy can be made to the Michael J. Szwed Scholarship Fund, 8392 Northhampton Court, Naples, FL 34120.

[MaryAmanda]

How dreadful.

It's crazy to think that the human body is so fragile. One fall, one rough landing, and this is the outcome?

[Scully]

That's so terrible. May God bless his family and friends.

[PhiLove83]

Our Sigma Chi chapter lost two brothers in 2 days in the early nineties... it is something that still effects the brothers in the chapter today, years later. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and the brothers.

[DEVODUDE]

Another sad tragedy to the Greek Community. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Szwed Family and to the Brothers of Sigma Chi.

Zeta Beta Tau
ZT Chapter