Our community saw tragedy this weekend as four students from the University of Central Florida (UCF) were in a car accident while on their way to attend HackFSU at Florida State University.
In the accident, which took place around 8pm on Friday the 18th, two students were critically injured. Both were admitted to the hospital and are expected to recover. A third was treated the night of the accident and released from the hospital that night. The fourth, Stephen Habinowski, died as a result of his injuries.
Our deepest condolences and those of our community go out to Stephen’s family and those injured in the crash. It’s heartbreaking any time a young person dies, but knowing Stephen and the other students were on their way to a Major League Hacking (MLH) event is especially hard hitting for all of us. MLH is an organization built on the passion of individual hackers and it’s our hope that we all continue to honor what Stephen was trying to do in some small way by continuing to participate in events like HackFSU.
Stephen’s family has set up a GoFundMe to help with funeral costs.
We’ll be updating this post with information about how to support the families of those affected.
Both FSU and UCF have student counseling services available and are encouraging students attending the universities to reach out if they would like support in this time. Students elsewhere are also encouraged to use their institution’s counseling resources.
Whether you attend a university or not, if you would like help The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) provides a hotline Monday–Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST. You may call NAMI at 1-800-950-6264 for peer support and referrals.
– Swift and the MLH Team