Broken Arrow Student Dies After Fall From Stadium

Broken Arrow students are remembering a friend who died after last night's football game.

Jaymeson West's dad says his son took his own life at Broken Arrow's Memorial Stadium.

All day Saturday students stopped by the high school to leave flowers and messages for their friend, all while trying to understand themselves what happened.

“He changed everybody, he changed everybody,” Broken Arrow High School Junior Ethan Bonham said. “Kids that were really quiet, shy, he brought up with him and they opened up and somehow it seem like everyone's grades increased when he there, like he made everyone want to try.”

As he looked at all the flowers left on a fence outside Memorial Stadium. Bonham said he’s trying to take things day by day.

“Remember the good he did,” Bonham said. “Just to honor him and the person he was. He was a great person.”

The makeshift memorial is for his friend, Jaymeson West, who was also a junior and a member of the Pride of Broken Arrow.

“He played the saxophone. He was really good at it, too,” said Bonham.

Jaymeson's final march with The Pride was Friday night.

In a public facebook post, his dad said his son took his own life by climbing the fence at the top of the stadium and jumping.

To his friends, it doesn't make sense.

“I saw him every single day and every single day he had a smile on his face,” Bonham said.

But hidden behind that big grin was something Jaymeson's friends didn't know - a struggle he hadn't shared with them.

“You truly never know what someone's going through on the inside,” said Bonham.

Jaymeson's dad said his son had long battled depression.

He wrote Jaymeson "Was not weak. He was not selfish. He showed more grit getting out of bed every morning than most of us have shown our whole lives."

The death has students thinking about changes they'll make at school. And they're hoping others will learn from Jaymeson and choose life instead.

“We'll definitely be more caring to others,” Bonham said. “Please talk to someone, everyone will be there for you.”

Broken Arrow Public Schools said counselors and support staff were made available to the Pride Saturday afternoon and will continue to be available in the days ahead.

All Broken Arrow students who need support can go to the B-A-H-S Media Center from 3:00 to 5:00 pm on Sunday. The district will have counselors on campus Monday and says it will have them there as long as the students need.