Race honors 'nice guy'

16-year-old is lead organizer

******

CORRECTION

A story in last week's North Raleigh News section incorrectly described how Sadiki Young died. The Wakefield High School student was wearing his seat belt and was not thrown from the passenger seat of a vehicle that crashed Jan. 14, 2007 on Wakefield Plantation Drive.

*******

A year ago Sadiki Young and Alex Krisulewicz were high school students active in the youth ministry at Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Raleigh. Young, a senior at Wakefield High School, and Krisulewicz, a freshman at Needham B. Broughton High, were on the same acolyte team for four years, serving on Sunday mornings and gathering for church-sponsored social events.

"He was always a really nice guy ... he had a good attitude, helped younger kids and was patient," said Krisulewicz.

Today, Krisulewicz, 16, is taking the lead in organizing the Inaugural Run for Young in memory of his friend, who died last January at age 18 in a car wreck on Wakefield Plantation Drive. The car Young was a passenger in hit a tree and rolled over several times. Young was thrown from the car and died at the scene.

The 18-year-old driver, whose blood alcohol level was .06, according to police, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. An autopsy found no alcohol in Young's body.

Serving as an acolyte at Young's funeral left Krisulewicz saddened and wanting to do more.

"It was just really emotional with everyone there knowing him and I'd known him ... it was tragic," he said. "His parents were sitting in the center front row and every time you looked over at them it just broke your heart."

So when members of the Sunday school class discussed a fundraising event in March, Krisulewicz approached youth director Liz Stroff and told her he wanted to oversee the Run for Young as his personal project at Broughton, which is part of the school's international baccalaureate program. Stroff, who said it was something Krisulewicz felt strongly about, agreed.

'Absolute honor'

"Alex doing this is an absolute honor to Sadiki," said Young's mother, Rosemarie Newman. "It dragged him in to a place where he learned so much ... he had to deal with grown business people and he just fit right in."

Some things came easy -- a church member volunteered to design the logo, and T-shirts, bottled water and bagels were donated. The hardest part was securing sponsors, said Krisulewicz, who wrote letters and made phone calls until he got results.

"It takes a lot more money than I expected to start a run. I was thinking maybe two or three thousand ... actually it can cost between six and ten thousand," he said.

Costs for the Run for Young are at $6,000, according to Krisulewicz, who said $8,000 has been raised and $2,000 more has been promised. Timer chips for shoes, portable bathrooms, USA Track & Field certification and roadblocks are some of the expenses he had to allow for.

Krisulewicz also had to allow for the emotions he experienced along the way.

"Sometimes it is really hard ... but I think of all the good things he did. He was one of the people who would have went on to do great things ... he was a good student, he was good at sports and he was a nice guy in the church."

The event was designed with Young in mind, said Krisulewicz. The logo, which features musical notes, pays tribute to his love of music; he played guitar in a reggae band.

Course reflects Sadiki

Young was also active in sports and images of different athletic shoes were incorporated into the design. The mid-point of the course is N.C. State's Memorial Bell Tower on Hillsborough Street because he was planning to attend that university, said Newman.

All proceeds from the run will go toward the Christ Church Youth Endowment Fund, set up in Young's memory, and Wakefield High School's Just Think First Program, which educates high school students on the dangers of drinking and driving. For Krisulewicz, it's about raising money and awareness.

"When it happened to him, it changed me and we want to have that same effect on people," he said.

Newman, who has spoken to teens about her son's death, hopes the run will remind people of the dangers of alcohol.

"All it takes is a moment to stray from the environment that protects you," she said. "Sadiki's life might save other lives, that's all I can hope."