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Boy dies after collapsing at Scottsdale school
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Students and staff at a Scottsdale school are reeling from the shock after a well-liked student died Thursday after collapsing in a hallway of the school.
Donovan Escalante, a 17-year-old senior at Thunderbird Adventist Academy, collapsed in the hallway of a dormitory at the school about 6 p.m. Thursday, according to Scottsdale police and the school’s principal. Escalante, who had a heart condition, later was pronounced dead at Scottsdale Healthcare Shea hospital, police said.
As emergency crews arrived at the school, a school nurse was performing CPR on him, but attempts to revive him were unsuccessful, according to police.
“He was a great kid,” said Barry Warren, principal of the private boarding school. “Our staff and students are devastated. He was known for being happy and upbeat.”
Warren said that Escalante’s heart condition was congenital, something he had since birth.
Escalante, who did not play sports, had lived with a lot of medical issues and overcame adversity early on, the principal said.
“Donovan had survived spinal meningitis, three heart surgeries and had various medical issues,” Warren said.
Ministers and grief counselors were on hand at the school on Thursday and Friday to help students deal with the boy’s death, he said.
Escalante had completed his finals the day of his death and would have turned 18 on Friday, said Matt Eaton, assistant dean of boys.
The 56-year-old Thunderbird enrolls 150 students from around the world and is overseen by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The school’s roots go back to 1907 when the school opened as Arizona Academy in Phoenix, Warren said.
The boy’s parents live out of the Valley, but arrived in town to begin making arrangements for his funeral, Warren said.
Police said they do not suspect foul play in Escalante’s death.
Escalante’s death was the second involving a 17-year-old student at an East Valley school within a month.
Alexis Franco, a varsity cheerleader at Tempe’s Corona del Sol High School, died Dec. 17 while practicing at a private gym from what her friends believed was an asthma attack.
Thunderbird Adventist Academy has set up a fund to help the Escalante family with funeral expenses. Anyone wishing to contribute may contact the school, (480) 948-3300, and ask for Sherrie Warren.
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