On January 26, Laker’s Player Kobe Bryant was found dead in Calabassas California due to go wrong. Timberland students saw him as an idol and were devastated.

“I guess the characters that he has, like passion and focus on not being the best, but having to work his way up and his dedication to prosper in the game that he loved,” senior Claudia Labruyere said.

Labruyere plays as a center on the varsity girl’s basketball team. She is jersey number 24, like her late idol. At the time of the incident, Labruyere said she was at home when her parents broke the news to her.

“It was devastating because it always seems that good people die young and they still had so much to offer in the world,” Labruyere said.

“He was my role model since I was little. Growing as a kid, I did not really have many people to look up and Kobe was the guy who has gotten me this far in life,” junior Amare Johnson said.

Johnson plays guard-forward on the boys’ varsity basketball team. Like Labruyere, he also has the number 24 on his jersey.

“It was a very surreal experience and knowing the people on the plane were a great people, I am even more deeply saddened for Gigi [Gianna Bryant] and Alyssa [last name] who were the age of thirteen if I am not mistaken.

Johnson originally came across Bryant’s unfortunate death on TMZ. However, due to the site’s reputation, he didn’t believe it until much later.

“This hit me really hard to because it shows life is short and you got to take every opportunity you come across and live in the moment,” Johnson said;

Soon it was revealed that there were a total of nine people on the helicopter at the time of the crash. None had survived. Johnson said he advises others to live as if their days are limited.