Thursday, 4:30 PM
Victim was 'an innocent little kid' with good grades
By Tracy Jan
and Stephanie Ebbert
GLOBE STAFF
Easy-going with a shy smile, James Alenson was a good student with a dry sense of humor who got along well with peers, recalled former classmates and his former speech team coach at Wilson Middle School in Natick.
The 15-year-old Alenson, whose family had moved to Sudbury from Natick last fall, was stabbed to death Friday morning, allegedly by another student in a boys’ bathroom at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School after a dispute.
‘‘I cannot imagine him getting into a confrontation with anybody,’’ said Deanie Goodman, who coached the boy for two years on Wilson Middle’s speech team. ‘‘He was a really sweet kid, somewhat shy, a little bit quiet, and really easy-going. I could not believe this would happen to a kid like that.’’
Alenson was not a master orator and had joined the speech team at his parents’ urging. But he was a good sport about going to weekly practices after school and cheered his younger sister, a team member and a great speaker, Goodman said.
Former classmates said that Alenson, tall and lanky with sandy blond hair and blue eyes, kept to himself and never caused trouble. But he would not allow classmates to pick on him, often retorting back when teased, students said. They do not recall him getting into physical fights.
‘‘When people would make fun of him, he wouldn’t let it go,’’ said Cassie Kosky, 15, a freshman at Natick High School who had gone to school with Alenson before he moved. ‘‘He wouldn’t flip out, but would come up with a remark.’’
Alenson played trumpet in his middle school band and in Lincoln-Sudbury’s concert band, students from both schools said yesterday.
Mike Cho, 14, a Natick High freshman who played in the band with Alenson in the middle school, said the teenager was creative. The boys were friends in the sixth grade, Cho said, and he liked going to Alenson’s house to play video games.
Former Natick classmates said Alenson was typically an A student at the middle school.
Antone Wilson, 15 and a Natick High freshman, said that whenever he would ask Alenson for the answers to a test, Alenson would say no.
Wilson emphasized that while quiet, Alenson was no pushover.
‘‘He wouldn’t let people bully him around,’’ Wilson said.
Jeff Scannell, 15, has known Alenson since the boys were about 9 years old and they attended the same speech therapy class. In eighth grade last year, they were in the same math and English honors classes. Alenson liked to spend his time reading and writing and rarely interrupted class, Scannell said.
‘‘He was a nice kid to be around,’’ said Scannell, a Natick High freshman. ‘‘He wouldn’t say one bad thing about another student. He was easy to talk to.’’
Lynn Rome, whose son attended the eighth grade with Alenson, said her son and his friend described Alenson as an ‘‘extremely bright, studious, and very friendly boy.’’
‘‘We’re devastated,’’ Rome said. ‘‘They were shocked that it could happen in the first place, but to him of all people.’’
Samantha Abrams, 18, a senior from Sudbury said she was a ‘‘peer connector’’ for freshmen, including Alenson.
‘‘He was really quiet and shy,’’ Abrams said. ‘‘He was just an innocent little kid and he didn’t deserve anything like this.’’
