The Harvey Mudd community mourns the loss of Harvey Mudd College engineering student Tristan Witte \u201918, 20, a talented athlete, musician and scholar, who passed away in a car accident July 15 along with his friend JJ Adkisson, 20, a graphic design student at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two young men had been fast friends since meeting in third grade Sunday school at Marin Covenant Church in San Rafael.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey went to different schools and lived in different cities but connected at a higher level with their passion for music and cool things like Pokemon and now Pokemon Go,\u201d said Marcus Witte, Tristan\u2019s father, in a Marin Independent Journal article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two friends were driving to Claremont on Interstate 210 in Southern California to pick up classmates at Harvey Mudd for a weekend camping trip at Joshua Tree National Park when the accident occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An active member of the Harvey Mudd community and a fan of the beach, surfing and music, Witte planned to lead first-year students on an Orientation Adventure Trip to Venice beach with classmate Connor Colombe \u201918 later this summer. They planned a day and a half of fun on the beach. \u201cWe will be lounging and playing games\/sports on the beach, chilling in the water, eating local food and spending the night in a famous hostel,\u201d reads the event description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a trip that matched his personality\u2014described as \u201cradiant coolness and laid-back\u201d by one high school friend\u2014as well as his desire to bond with classmates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students and faculty members recall Witte as easy going and even-keeled in a way that helped his classmates immensely. An engineering faculty member recalls, \u201cWhen they were super stressed (which was nearly always), he’d crack a joke or play some reggae that would relax everyone and make them all more effective. He also showed great respect for every person on his team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fellow engineering student and friend Lillian Liang \u201918 pointed out that \u201che always looked people in the eye and really listened when they talked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Witte further served the Harvey Mudd community by being a peer consultant at the Writing Center and was pursuing an interest in languages by taking classes in Chinese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n