Satellite High School students and staff are reeling from the recent death of sophomore Derek Fortmayer.
Fortmayer, 15, committed suicide on March 7. He was at least the third Satellite High student to take his own life in the past year.
Fortmayer’s death has mystified those who knew him. He was a center on the school’s football team, ran cross country and played baseball, and a had 3.8 GPA with a schedule that included advanced placement classes. By all appearances, he was a happy, well-adjusted teenager.
“When you lose a guy like that, you just wonder what didn’t you do and what you could have done,” Satellite head football coach Ted Kimmey said.
He added there was “not a moment” when he would have thought Fortmayer would be at risk for suicide or mental health issues.
“I don’t really think there’s an answer,” Kimmey said. “That’s between Derek and God.”
Several hundred students, family members and friends gathered March 15 at Ascension Catholic Church to remember Fortmayer. They sang hymns and shared their memories. Fortmayer attended Ascension Catholic School before matriculating to Satellite.
Fortmayer’s parents, Cheryl and Ken Fortmayer, greeted every attendee with a hug as they entered the church sanctuary.
Fortmayer is also survived by a younger sister, Aubrey, as well grandparents Rex and Evelyn Fortmayer and John and Linda Johnson.
About 200 people, mostly students, gathered on the beach at Pelican Park after the service at Ascension. Fortmayer’s parents, Kimmey and other close friends sent three balloon lanterns into the sunset-lit sky in his honor. The assembled crowd lit sparklers and held them aloft.
Seven Brevard County public school students committed suicide in the 2016-2017 school year. Brevard Public Schools officials refused to release statistics for this year, citing privacy laws.
Suicides at Brevard schools last year prompted a call to action by School Board Member Tina Descovich, who initiated funding for suicide prevention programs in local schools.
On Saturday, the same day a funeral mass was held for Fortmayer, BPS cosponsored a teen suicide prevention walk and carnival at Sand Point Park in Titusville. Kimmey, who had posted on social media that Fortmayer was like a son to him, said he had talked to Fortmayer two weeks prior to his death during a routine one-on-meeting he has with all players in the off-season.
The Satellite football team is hosting a lift-a-thon in Fortmayer’s honor on March 30, and Kimmey said he plans for the event to be an annual fundraiser.