In Honor of Ethan Whitehead

Students finish final project after classmate passes

Emma Wynn was among the handful of students present when their classmate, Ethan Whitehead, collapsed in their classroom at Ball State’s R. Wayne Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning (ECAP) on Nov. 11, 2021. Ethan, just 20 years old, never regained consciousness. He died as the result of an undiagnosed medical condition.

Understandably, his passing weighed heavily on Ms. Wynn. What happened to Ethan was difficult to process. And, it didn’t matter that she didn’t know him very well.

“In our Architecture program, we are a family,” Ms. Wynn explained. She knew she wanted to learn more about Ethan, and honor him. When Alec Meister, a fellow Architecture student, sought other students to help him finish and present Ethan’s semester final architecture project, Ms. Wynn volunteered without hesitation. So did Josh Hoff, who had an architecture studio class with Ethan.

“I wanted to do this for Ethan,” Mr. Hoff said. “Whenever he’d come into class, he had this sense of joy; he’d fill everyone’s heart with that joy as well. He had persistence and a feeling of just wanting to be there every day.”

Mr. Meister, Ms. Wynn, and Mr. Hoff—all seniors this academic year—knew that completing Ethan’s project would be in addition to completing their own individual final projects with only six weeks left in the semester.

“It really hit me hard when I found out that Ethan passed away,” Mr. Meister said. “I knew, in my heart, I had to finish his project. It was very scary knowing that I had my own project to do and thinking, ‘How am I going to finish another one as well?’ I asked people in my class if they would help me. I just had faith.”

For the final project, each student had to conceptualize and design a new use for an old storefront space. Ethan—a creative, quirky, out-of-the-box thinker who valued environmental sustainability—envisioned a micro-distillery with some unique elements, including a “living wall” with live plants such as ivy. The student trio dove into Ethan’s notes and social media to learn more about Ethan and his vision for the project. Their research and work yielded a project titled, “He Flies.”

“In the end, we finished it for Ethan, doing it as we felt he would,” Mr. Meister explained. “We also added several elements to it, allowing the project to be a memorial to him as well.”

In December 2021, Ethan’s parents, Doug and Julie Whitehead, attended the final project’s juried presentations in the Architecture Building at Ball State. Parents do not typically attend presentations, but the Whiteheads were invited by David Ferguson, dean of ECAP. The student trio presented Ethan’s project, which was well-received on its merits. Each of them did well on their individual projects also.

Nearly two years after the presentation, the Whiteheads remain grateful for what the students did.

“These students were under a lot of pressure to do their projects and Ethan’s,” Doug Whitehead said. “So doing this for us means even more.”

Julie Whitehead still gets a bit choked up when talking about it.

“It was obvious that Ethan made an impact on these students, and they cared about him to the point that, as future architects, they did this for Ethan and for his parents and family. They saw him. And it was just the most incredible gift!” Ms. Whitehead said. “I miss my baby so much. But it helps to know that he was with these people who did see him for who he was.”

To help others and pay tribute to Ethan, Julie and Doug Whitehead established The Ball State University Foundation Fund in support of the “Ethan Whitehead Guest Lecture in Sustainability.” This fund was started in 2022 with a monetary donation from the Whiteheads.

Also, the Whiteheads contributed to an existing emergency fund for ECAP students in need, using Ethan’s earnings accumulated from working over two Summers. He was saving the money to help cover his college expenses.

The Whiteheads were not asked to donate to Ball State or ECAP. They were moved to do it, partially in response to the kindness and compassion shown to them by Ball State—its leadership, faculty, staff, and students—in their time of pain.

“Our son loved Ball State so much,” Julie Whitehead said. “Now, we know why.”