Those who knew Engineering sophomore Michael Sheahan, who died in an automobile accident last Monday, say they will remember him as both an ambitious student and a caring friend and son.
"What really made him special was that even though he was so brilliant, you wouldn't know it because . he was such a down-to-earth person," said College sophomore Liz Grant, one of Sheahan's friends.
"He'd walk into a room and light it up," Grant said. "He just had that energy about him."
Sheahan, 20, was killed after running a stop sign and colliding with a dump truck in Caledonia, Ill. He is originally from Madison, Wis., and at the time of the accident he was on his way home from meeting with his Penn mentor in Chicago to discuss career plans.
"It was like everything was normal - he was going to talk to his Penn advisor, there were boxes in the bedroom, probably just like many other Penn students," Sheahan's father, Pat, said. "And then all of the sudden he was just taken from us and left a big hole in our hearts."
According to the Boone County Sheriff's office, the stop sign Sheahan ran was partially obscured by brush along the side of the road, making it difficult for drivers to see the sign. Problems with the stop sign have been reported to the township's supervisor, who was unable to be reached for comment.
In high school, Sheahan was focused on "academics and soccer," Pat Sheahan said. "He was competitive . he was never mean about it, but he always pushed people to do their best."
In his senior year, he was a member of the varsity soccer team at James Madison Memorial High School, but also played ultimate frisbee, was a 12-year member of the 4-H club, participated in the Spanish club and played piano and violin.
At Penn, Sheahan was a bioengineering student who also played ultimate frisbee and worked with the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project.
His mother, Helen Sheahan, said Michael Sheahan worked this past summer at the University of Wisconsin Center on Nanostructured Materials to help determine his interests.
Pat Sheahan, his father, said Michael Sheahan loved Penn because of the intellectual challenges and variety of people he met, but also because Penn "is on the cutting edge of research that could make a difference in the world," he said.
When Sheahan came home from college, he liked to help out around the house by mowing the lawn, shoveling snow and buying and setting up a new computer for his parents.
"He said, 'You really need a new computer and I want to give it to you,'" Helen Sheahan said.
In addition to his intelligence and kindness, Sheahan's friends say he had a great sense of humor.
Grant said that during the frustration of countless study sessions to work on chemistry lab reports last year, Sheahan "was always the one to say what we were thinking."
"He would just stop and say the funniest things . he just made it more enjoyable," she said.
Wharton sophomore Michael Feliu recalled a time last fall when he and Sheahan were taking a SEPTA trolley back from Center City and got on the wrong trolley line.
"We didn't realize that one of the five or six lines doesn't go to Penn and of course got on that trolley," he wrote in an e-mail. "When we finally got off the trolley we realized that we were in the middle of West Philly in the dark not really sure how to get back."
Most of all, those who knew Sheahan stress their belief in his ability to change the world.
"He was, quite simply, the example all people should strive to imitate," Feliu wrote. "He had the perfect balance of humor and seriousness, work ethic and the ability to have a great time, and a great heart."
Grant said Sheahan's friends have been supporting each other.
"We've all kind of banded together," she said.
College sophomore Talisa de Carlo, one of Sheahan's hallmates in Riepe College House last year, said the group of friends in their hallway was "like family."
"It's hard to know that there's a part of that now that's missing," she said.
Sheahan's funeral was held at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Madison yesterday.
Helen Sheahan said more than 500 people came to honor Michael Sheahan.
"The outpouring of support we've received - the kind notes, e-mails, postings on the Web - have all been a comfort to us," Pat Sheahan said, adding that the family had even received flowers from Michael Sheahan's classmates in the writing seminar he took last year.
An on-campus memorial service is also in the early planning stages. According to Mary LeCates from the Office of the Chaplain, some of Sheahan's friends will meet with the Chaplain later this week to plan a service.
Sheahan's father said he hopes his son has impacted the lives of his fellow Penn students.
"I don't want his passing away to be something that hurts people, that holds them back or damages them in any way," he said. "I want people to be stronger and better because they knew my son."
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