The 17-year-old boy who died Sunday afternoon while swimming in the Lewis River was as a junior at TEAM High School in Woodland.
Julian Alexander Norton died of an accidental drowning, according to the Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office.
Norton went missing while he was swimming across the river near the 1300 block of South Pekin Road, west of La Center, according to the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office.
Norton had been swimming across the river with two boys when he told them he was getting cold and having trouble swimming, according to the sheriff’s office. He then went underwater and disappeared.
His friends tried to find Norton, but couldn’t. Emergency crews including a dive team, a small aircraft and a fire boat equipped with sonar responded to help.
The dive team recovered the boy’s body Sunday evening near the spot where he disappeared.
Norton enrolled at Woodland High School in September 2014, but withdrew in February, said Dan Uhlenkott, assistant principal at Woodland High School and principal at TEAM High School.
Norton then enrolled at TEAM High School, an alternative high school in Woodland, in April.
Uhlenkott said that grief counselors are available to students all week and that students are encouraged to participate in some activities to remember Norton. These activities include writing messages with sidewalk chalk around the school and writing notes to Norton and his family for a scrapbook that will be given to Norton’s parents.
“We’ve got so many families (who) tell us it’s heart-wrenching, but years later they so appreciate it,” Uhlenkott said.
He said that a memorial service to honor Norton has been scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday at Orchards Park in Vancouver.
