By Kendall Johnson

On Dec. 24th, Dylan Ricciardella, a junior at Guyer High School, passed away. The PTA posted on Instagram a message to notify Guyer students of what had happened. Immediately, friends and family of Ricciardella received much support from Guyer faculty, students, and the Denton community as a whole. Dylan’s family hosted a celebration at St. Mark’s Catholic Church, to honor his life. Many Guyer students attended, and it was nice to see the amount of people supporting the family.

Dylan was extremely enthusiastic about all things technology. He was very talented at sketching and drawing anything he could think of, and was able to cheer up anyone he talked to with his wit and funny jokes. Dylan was truly fond of his family, as he loved spending time with his grandparents in their house in Nebraska. He and his sister, Kayla, also had a special bond, as they traveled the world together with their parents and gave each other someone to rely on. 

Oliver Browning, a sophomore at Guyer, knew Dylan through his computer science class. They had just started to become friends this past semester. “The class was pretty boring, but Dylan always knew how to make it fun and I enjoyed being in the class with him,” Browning said. “I wish I had longer to get to know him, I know a lot of kids in our computer science class were devastated about his passing.” he added.

“Dylan will be missed dearly by everyone at Guyer, and his defining characteristics made such a positive impact on the teachers and students. If you don’t take a chance to become friends with someone, you don’t get to know how much they can impact you and help you out,” Browning concluded.