“Josh wanted to be a teacher, and he wanted to be a coach,” Eilender said. 

“That’s what his mom is doing, trying to help kids, trying to save a single life. 
That’s what shines through for me the most, because that’s what Josh would 
have wanted.”

Buckner said though she certainly wasn’t obligated to publicize the manner 

in which her son died, she felt compelled to. 

“There was no question that I needed people to know what happened, 

because it was so frightening to me,” Buckner said. “I had no clue that kids were 
abusing adderall as a party drug. I did not know about this issue of co-ingestion.”

The message, whether it’s through the foundation’s work, the simple fact of 

Levine’s death, or both, is having an effect. Levine’s friends approached Buckner 
at his funeral to tell her that though they’d co-ingested previously, those days 
were over.

Others didn’t have to say a thing — Buckner said she could tell just from the 

look in their eyes. It also took her son’s death for Buckner to realize exactly the 
type of person he was — as charitable and selfless as he was, he’s also remem-
bered for being charitable and selfless in the most understated way possible.

“I can’t tell you how many girls told me that he would walk them home at 

night,” Buckner said. “That he would literally give them the coat off his back if 
they needed it. To hear that those were the type of things that he was doing was 
pretty breathtaking.

In the months before his death, Levine had worked as a substitute teachers 

at West Bloomfield High School and had thoughts of becoming a credentialed 
teacher.

“What happened to our family was cataclysmic.”
The cataclysm isn’t over. Barely a year has passed since Levine’s death, and 

Buckner knows there’s still work to be done.

“When you walk around (Michigan’s campus) on a football Saturday, it’s just 

unbelievable,” Buckner said. “Now the kids, I heard, will snort Adderall first 
thing in the morning,” allowing them to drink unimpeded throughout the day.

This Saturday, and on hundreds of Saturdays in the years to come, students 

will wake up early, and they’ll drink. Buckner isn’t much of a drinker herself. 
She’s not thrilled about the alcohol — in and of itself, the binge drinking of alco-
hol alone is its own health issue, one that isn’t discussed enough on college cam-
puses across the country.

But if Buckner has her way, maybe — just maybe — they’ll stick to alcohol, and 

have a plan to quit drinking while they still have their wits. She’s taking things 
one step at a time.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015 // The Statement
8B

STIMULANTS
From Page 5B