DELAWARE, Ohio — Shortly after the death of Stone Foltz, a student at Bowling Green State University and a pledge at Pi Kappa Alpha, his family said it was too early to tell his story.
Now Shari and Cory Foltz, along with their children AJ and Jersey, speak at local colleges and universities telling Stone’s story about what led up to the ‘big-little’ event off-campus when he died of alcohol poisoning.
The Foltz family will appear on Dr. Phil at 4 p.m. on WBNS-10TV Wednesday for National Hazing Prevention Week.
“They reached out early in the beginning and we just, it was too early. We weren't ready to do the show quite yet,” said Shari Foltz, Stone’s mother. “They reached out again and asked us to be on the show. And we thought, 'you know, why not? We need to get out there.' And you know, Dr. Phil is a number one talk show in the country, so we hope that we get a lot of viewers to watch it. Young ones that can watch it and understand the story and understand the impacts of hazing.”
As fall rush is taking place this year for fraternities and sororities, the Foltz family is hoping others hear what happen to Stone and are prepared to stand up against hazing.
“Their pledging process is several weeks long and that's when the grooming begins,” said Shari. “These acts that are not okay, they're not right. And the students, unfortunately, don't understand that that is hazing. And that's abuse.”
“All organizations, we just need to eliminate the hazing before we have another young man or woman die in this country,” said Cory. “And the more we can educate the students and tell them to stop, it's their generation that's going to help us make the change. And let's face it, bad things are going to happen. And if they do, the decision they make them could save someone's life calling 911 or just not leaving a friend behind.”
This year in Ohio, a new anti-hazing law will be in place for the entire fall semester, and Shari believes educating students about new consequences is important to get the point across.
“Stone’s death was here in Ohio. And, you know, with Collin's Law coming out, we need to get that across to the students that it's now a felony.” Said Shari. “If you want to take that chance, you could end up in jail and have that felony on your record for the rest of your life.”
Their next speaking event is scheduled to take place at Youngstown State on Sept. 26, and Otterbein University on Oct. 26. The Foltz family spoke with students at Denison University this past week.
The iamstonefoltz Foundation is preparing for its second HOOPS 4A CHANGE basketball tournament coming up on Nov. 19.