Today has been an extremely depressing day. I found out that Jared from season 1 of ZOOM (1999 season) died December 28, 2006 at the age of 21.

I read what happened on the IMDB message boards and I felt like I had been punched in the stomach.

He was always my favorite ZOOMer. He was my first crush* in fifth grade. He was funny, witty.....it's just so sad.

He died in a car accident. He was the passenger, and the car he was riding in crashed into a tree. The 19-year old driver was drunk.

Here's a nice little picture tribute on Youtube:
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Other youtube videos in which he is in:
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AAAHHH this is so depressing. I really liked him...

:-(

ZOOM Days

Article about what happened:
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What he said about himself at age thirteen from his ZOOM profile:
Hi! I'm Jared.

I'm optimistic, smart and outgoing. Besides that, I love to talk with my mouth shut! I think other ZOOMers would describe me as very funny and creative. When I grow-up, I'd love to be a movie director and make blockbuster movies. I love to listen to Aerosmith, watch WWF on TV and surf the web. And speaking of the web, the Ubbi Dubbi Translator is one of the best parts of the ZOOMweb site. Chubeck ubit ubout!

My silliest ZOOMmoment had to be when I played Miss America in a ZOOMplayhouse. But one of the best things about being a ZOOMer was helping Anthony, a ZOOMcrew member make ZOOMgifts for everyone who worked on ZOOM.

* - when I say crush, I always mean it in a totally innocent sense. I have never felt anything sexual for any of my crushes.