Death. For most of us it’s considered a far-off topic, one not generally mentioned in everyday conversation. For death row inmates, however, it creeps closer and closer with every passing minute, regardless of their guilt or innocence.

The Monta Vista High School pool deck will be noticeably quieter this year. Longtime coach and teacher Ron Freeman passed away on Jan. 21 at age 52 from a heart attack after watching a Monta Vista basketball game.

At 18, Nicholas Brown almost died. Brown, a student from the University of Arkansas, slipped into a coma with a blood alcohol level of 0.68 last November. Brown had been participating in a pledge event at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house where he was allegedly forced to endure hours of verbal and physical abuse, as well as a challenge to drink as much alcohol as possible.

Since the opening of the Whistler Sliding Centre in 2008, many have called the luge track "too fast" or "unsafe." People believed that one day, the track would take the life of one of its competitors. But they never expected that a fatal accident would occur so soon, as Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvilli was killed after losing control of his sled and slamming into a steel pole during a practice run on Feb. 12, the opening day of the Olympics.

On the morning of Jan. 5, Shota Hasegawa, a 2007 graduate, a passed away in his sleep. The reasons for his death are still unknown and under investigation, but in the meantime, students, teachers and parents in the school's music community have been left to deal with a tragic loss.