Honoring the life of Austin Weirich
Austin Weirich battled depression and masked it extremely well with his perfectionism.
He graduated from Goshen High School with a grade point average higher than 4.0. He ran track and played football. He was president of his class all four years of high school. At Wabash College, he played football and was a campus leader.
On September 10, 2016, he died by suicide at the age of 20. He died on World Suicide Prevention Day.
Since his death, parents, Keith and Leslie Weirich, have worked to honor the life of their son and prevent the deaths of others by suicide. Leslie has become an advocate and started an organization called Leslie’s Hope. She speaks locally and nationally, telling her family’s story and trying to help others. “I don’t want any other family to go through what we went through,” she says. “It’s not about me. It’s about our kids.”
As the family has raised money to honor Austin’s memory, they have established a scholarship with the Community Foundation of Elkhart County. The Austin Weirich Memorial Scholarship will be given every two years, starting in 2024, to a graduating high school senior from Goshen High School who is planning to enroll full-time at an accredited college or university. Preference will be given to a student pursuing a degree in a field related to mental health.
For this scholarship and other endowed funds, the Community Foundation matches 25 percent of donor gifts up to $25,000 per calendar year.