Student Famous for Laser Cat Yearbook Picture Dies at 17
Schenectady High School student Draven Rodriguez was petitioning to include this photo as his senior yearbook photo.
Draven Rodriguez, a 17-year-old high school student who became famous for petitioning to use a photo of himelf and his cat with lasers in his high school yearbook, committed suicide on Thursday, his parents told The Times Union of Albany, New York.
The photo of Rodriguez, a student at Schneectady High School, and his cat, Mr. Bigglesworth, went viral in September when school administrators said he could not use the laser cat picture as his official graduation image. Rodriguez and the school eventually reached a compromise when Principal Diane Wilkinson agreed to be featured in a similar photo with her own dog and Rodriguez.
“He made friends wherever he went,’’ Rodriguez’s father, Jonathan Stewart, told The Times Union. “He had friends all over the country — people he’d met at youth-leadership conferences, online, just around town.’’
Stewart also added:
‘’He wasn’t trying to stir things up with [the photo]. He honestly just wanted a silly photo because he had a great sense of humor.’’
Rodriguez talked to The Daily Gazette in September about the photo.
“I don’t want to go in the yearbook with the generic ‘I-look-like-everyone-else’ photo,’’ he said. “I wanted a ‘He looks great. Only he would try that’ photo.’’
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