Amid grief, community remembers teen's `infectious love of life'

By Daniel Kittredge
Posted 8/24/16

A Providence teen who lost his life in a bicycle accident in Cranston earlier this month is being remembered as a positive force in the community and the lives of his friends and loved ones, while an online fundraising campaign has

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Amid grief, community remembers teen's `infectious love of life'

Posted

A Providence teen who lost his life in a bicycle accident in Cranston earlier this month is being remembered as a positive force in the community and the lives of his friends and loved ones, while an online fundraising campaign has been started to assist his family.

In the days following the Aug. 16 accident, a memorial to Sunkashka Soch, 18 – known as Kashka to his family and by friends as Sunny – was created at the intersection of Park Avenue and Western Promenade. According to an online memorial, Soch had been out riding with his sister and cousins at the time of the crash.

Dozens took part in a vigil to honor the young man, who graduated from Classical High School in the spring and excelled in academics and been involved in a range of extracurricular activities. He had attended the Talent Development Program at the University of Rhode Island, and was set to attend the institution in the fall to study business.

Soch served as captain of the chess team, co-captain of the volleyball team, president of the Japanese and Manga clubs, and as a member of the Gay & Straight Alliance during his time at Classical. He was also active with the Providence Youth Student Movement, and had volunteered at Brown University in recent years. He was also a third-generation musician, and was a core member of a group that performs traditional Khmer drumming across the state.

Roberto Gonzalez, executive director of technology-based youth program STEAM Box, recalled Soch as “outgoing” with a “radiant smile.” He said the teen he knew as Sunny was “exclusively positive” in a way that is uncommon among people his age.

“It feels so stereotypical to say he was a good kid, but he really was,” he said. “I know that he was loved by the school, by STEAM Box, by the community.”

Gonzalez said his “heart breaks” for Soch’s family, and especially for his sister, Amy, who has also participated in STEAM Box. The outpouring of grief and support on social media following the accident, he said, has demonstrated that Soch’s “reach was far greater than I even knew.”

Soch’s obituary describes him as having “an infectious love of life.”

“Kashka’s eagerness for adventure, his passion for learning, his curiosity about the world, and his love of people earned him friends everywhere he went,” it reads.

A GoFundMe campaign, the Sunkashka Soch Memorial Fund, has been established to assist his family with funeral and hospital expenses. As of Tuesday, it had raised nearly $5,300 of its $7,500 goal.

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