MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It was standing room only in the Shenandoah Room of the Mountainlair for the showing of Breathe, Nolan, Breathe, the documentary about the tragic hazing-related 2014 death of Nolan Burch. Burch, of Buffalo, N.Y., was found unresponsive and died with a blood alcohol level of .493 at the former Kappa Sigma fraternity house.
T.J. and Kim Nolan, his father and mother, brought the film to the WVU campus to educate students about the dangers of hazing and alcohol abuse. The Nolans also want to empower current students to not be afraid to stand up for what’s right and ethical.
Olivia Almond attended the showing of the film and the roundtable discussion.
“It was really hard seeing exactly what happened,” Almond said,”I came into this not really knowing there was going to be actual scenes from that night and seeing that really, really hard.”
Almond told WAJR News this was a very impactful evening for her.
“Seeing that tonight makes me want to spread awareness for this issue that is very rampant on our campus,” Almond said,”A lot of people on this campus are proud that West Virginia has a party reputation, but that’s not really something to be proud about.”
Almond did say that film, roundtable did make her feel empowered to take the message further than the Shenandoah Room.
A link to the documentary is here.