The demise of Kareem Badawi, an 18-year-old freshman on the University of Alabama, has left the Episcopal School neighborhood in Baton Rouge grieving the lack of an distinctive younger man.
He was killed in a terrorist assault in New Orleans on New Year’s Eve. Another former classmate, Parker Vidrine, was additionally injured within the assault and stays within the ICU.
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Who was Kareem Badawi?
Kareem graduated from Episcopal High School in Baton Rouge, the place he was a beloved member of the soccer workforce. He shaped a detailed bond along with his finest buddy and teammate, Ethan Ott. The two carried their friendship to school, changing into roommates and pledging Sigma Chi collectively. Both college students excelled academically, incomes 4.0 GPAs of their first semester.
Kareem’s former soccer coach, Travis Bourgeois, fondly remembered him: “Why harmless individuals must endure, particularly a man like Kareem, was effectively favored, not a hurtful bone in his physique. He’s a really type, mild man, effectively favored you realize, individuals went to Kareem as a result of he is a constructive man.”
On New Year’s Eve, Kareem joined a number of 2024 Episcopal graduates in New Orleans to reunite and share tales of their first semester in faculty. At some level through the evening, the group grew to become separated. Around 3:16 a.m., Ethan knowledgeable Kareem he was heading to Bourbon Street. Shortly after, Kareem’s life was tragically minimize brief.
“He thought it’s a giant metropolis and New Orleans would have events … He thought it might be a good suggestion, and there could be an even bigger social gathering than Baton Rouge,” Kareem’s father, Belal Badawi, informed the New York Post.
“The subsequent day was the Sugar Bowl and he loves sports activities so he thought New Orleans was the place to be for New Year’s Eve. The New Year’s Eve just isn’t what he anticipated or deliberate for and sadly he obtained killed.”
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Ethan and different pals honoured Kareem by getting tattoos that learn “KB 1-1-2025.” Ethan defined, “Now I’ve obtained Kareem with me endlessly.”
The Episcopal School neighborhood held a closed memorial for Kareem, with the chapel overflowing to twice its capability.