City College student and engineering major Diego Lake Nieves was involved in a traffic collision on July 3 while riding his motorcycle, and died on July 4 at 18 years old.
Nieves, a rising second year student, was attending summer classes at City College at the time of the accident.
City College Film and Media Studies Instructor Roger Durling, had Nieves as a student during the fall 2023 semester.
“I have several students, and I don’t have a very close relationship with all of my students,” Durling said. “He stuck out because he was very devoted to school.”
In addition to being enrolled in a full course load, the Carpenteria native worked at Laughing Buddha Thrift and Rori’s Artisanal Creamery in Montecito.
Rori’s Artisanal Creamery spoke out about Nieves’ death on facebook and wrote, “He is survived by his grandparents Sheryl Lake and Jim Tarantino, and will be greatly missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing and loving him.”
Those who knew Nieves personally spoke out about his death online, specifically on Instagram. Among them is Durling, who acknowledged Nieves’ unwavering dedication to learning.
“I know that he was juggling work, but he always made an effort to do the work and come to school,” Durling said. “It struck me–his devotion to school and to his education.”
Outside of Nieves’ academic pursuits, Durling noted his love for film and movies, despite balancing a busy work life with a full academic workload.
“I vividly remember him expressing how much he loved movies,” Durling said. “He particularly loved war movies and he told me that his favorite movie was this movie called 1917 and he loved seeing that film with his grandfather.”
On July 7, a GoFundMe was set up in Nieves’ honor by Mary Zeoli, the Laughing Buddha thrift store founder. Since Nieves’ death, the GoFundMe has been established to honor Neives in the form of a scholarship for Carpinteria High School seniors.
“Hopefully this can be an ongoing memorial to this amazing young man. He was loved by so many and will be desperately missed,” the GoFundMe reads.
According to Coastal View News, “A Celebration of Life will be held at the Woman’s Club of Carpinteria on Oct. 12, noon to 6 p.m.”
