Sophomore Elon Shore recalled his best memory of Philip Augustin under a purple sky in Kogan Plaza Thursday night.
“I was walking down the aisle, and I tripped, and I knocked over my books,” said Shore about an embarrassing moment he had in class last year. “The seniors in the class kind of laughed, but Phil said ‘Come over here, sit with me.'”
Shore was one of more than 100 students who assembled in the plaza to remember Augustin, 20, of West Orange, N.J., a sophomore who drowned in the Tidal Basin last week.
Flowers were laid at the base of the clock facing Augustin’s room on Crawford Hall’s eighth floor. As rain fell on the cold spring night, students, who took turns addressing the mourners, remembered Augustin as an outstanding friend and a warm-hearted student.
“I feel like an angel has crossed my path,” said sophomore Arielle Zurolo, who worked with Augustin as a member of the poetry forum Think Tank Revolution. “Not one conversation with him went by when he didn’t make me think about my life.”
Sophomore Trent Simpson, who roomed with Augustin during Colonial Inauguration, said he owes many of his friendships to the New Jersey native.
“He just came into my room and asked me if I wanted to meet people,” Simpson said.
“At the end it was just me and him … we just went to get a burger at Lindy’s,” he continued. “I just have to say that I don’t think anyone has ever found out so much about my life in such a short period of time.”
Metropolitan Police are still investigating Augustin’s death, which occurred the night of March 27 when he reportedly said something to his two friends and jumped into the Tidal Basin, located near the FDR Memorial at 22nd Street and Independence Avenue.
Tony Patterson, an MPD detective investigating Augus-tin’s death, said it is being treated as an accidental drowning. He added that MPD officials know Augustin’s last words but will not release the information.
Patterson said he would be conducting interviews with the two GW students who accompanied Augustin to the basin to determine why the sophomore jumped into the 10-foot waters. One student who accompanied Augustin to the basin refused to comment Thursday about his friend’s death.
Asked if Augustin’s death was alcohol or drug-related, Patterson said, “It won’t be confirmed (whether or not he was intoxicated) until the toxicology reports come out.”
Adrian Lavallee, general counsel for the D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office, said an autopsy was performed on Augustin’s body March 28. She said the city would not be able to release its findings until toxicology tests are completed in about a month.
The death of Augustin, a gregarious young man with a passion for hip-hop and jazz music, came as a “shock” to the GW community, said Jan Mitchell Sherrill, senior associate dean of students. University therapists talked to about 20 to 25 students the morning after Augustin’s death, Sherrill added.
“Although everyone is grieving and everyone is sad, I honestly believe he’s in a better place than this,” said junior Ian Rogow at Thursday night’s vigil.
Junior Akemi Martin, who along with Augustin was a member of Liquid Arts, an on-campus hip-hop group, said she would miss her friend’s free-style rap performances and “his smile.”
“He always had a positive attitude, and he was always ready to brighten someone’s day,” she said.
“He had heart, drive and talent,” said senior Autumn Smith-Jimenez, a Liquid Arts vice president.
During the vigil, Smith-Jimenez held a poster with black-and-white pictures of Augustin performing at a free-style contest.
Smith-Jimenez said in an interview after the vigil, “He was our motivational mystic.”
Augustin was the fourth GW student to die in the last four months.
– Michael Barnett contributed to this report
