WHO WAS NICHOLAS?
It is impossible to sum up a life in a few paragraphs but we’ll try.
​
Nicholas was an incredible kid and grew into an incredible man. He was born at Abington Hospital in Abington Pennsylvania, which annoyed him later in his teen years. Why? He felt he should have been born in Philadelphia, a city he truly loved and identified with. His friends, many of them from the Mayfair area, would tease him saying he “was a suburban boy”; anything to get a rise. He grew up and was raised as a typical kid in Northeast Philadelphia; went to the local parish school, St. Albert the Great, and then on to Holy Ghost Preparatory High School. He loved sports, playing basketball for CYO but he always wanted to play football; however, he was a skinny kid with a goofy smile.
As he started high school, he decided he wanted to get strong. That desire turned into a strict regime of going to the gym six days a week transforming himself into an incredibly strong, fit individual. The grocery bill basically doubled, but it was well worth it as he reported his best bench press or lifts which seemed to increase every month. His uncle in Arizona was who he turned to for workout routines for the gym and the relationship between the two was incredibly close. Trips to Arizona were a chance to show him how strong he had gotten.
​
You see, Nicholas had a work ethic that you rarely see in today’s youth. Although not a huge fan of school, he recognized it as a means to an end. Most nights, he was up till one in the morning finishing homework before going to bed and waking up at six for school. For several years, even in the summer during college, Nicholas worked for a landscaping company. Out with his friends at night, and then up at 5:30 to go to work. The days were long and hot but that didn’t bother him. Even while attending college classes and the additional time needed to put into the NROTC, he worked at a popular bar / restaurant as a barback / bouncer.
​
With everything he did, he gave a 110%, never slacking or making excuses. Once he set his mind to something, nothing could stand in his way. Life was too fun with so much to do than waste it sleeping usually getting by with four or five hours a night was more than enough. His smile lit up a room and his laugh was infectious.
As the search for colleges started, Nicholas wanted to fulfill his life-long desire to join the United States Marine Corps. After much discussion, he settled on Penn State, and was accepted to Penn State’s main campus in State College. There he joined the NROTC with his plan to graduate and join the Marine Corps as an officer.
​
Nicholas had a lot of tattoos, and each one meant something important to him that was significant in his life. His first tattoo was the family crest his second, the skyline of Philadelphia, and his third was the phrase “Blood makes you related. Loyalty makes you family”. Along with his work ethic, Nicholas was loyal. Loyalty was one of the principles that defined him. His group of friends were as much his family as his actual family and for Nicholas, that word family meant everything to him; be it his sister, his parents, his aunts and uncles, his incredible friends and his beloved dog Mamba. Nicholas was an incredible spirit that was stolen from so many people. The hole that was left in so many lives is devastating and will be everlasting.
ILMONF
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY ESSAY
Almost every child has a dream about the life and career they want when they are older, be it a princess living in a castle or a professional football player. Dreams are a wonderful thing to have, but many children do not achieve this childhood dream of theirs. I am one of the exceptions.
When I was a young boy, maybe in fourth or fifth grade, I was introduced into the world of Call of Duty. I was very young and ignorant when it came to war and things of that nature, but I simply thought it was interesting and exciting. I wanted to be just like the men in the video games and help people like they did; this was my childhood dream for my future. Now I know that basing a life goal on an extremely unrealistic video game may sound extremely facetious, but it was my dream nonetheless
I began to discuss this game with my father and mother which led to the discovery that my father and grandfather were United State Marines, and not even knowing what a Marine was my father told me who they were and what they did, without many details of course because I was still very young. So this got me thinking and I decided my dream was to be a United States Marine like my grandfather and father before me, but I had no real reasoning behind this other than an unrealistic video game and the strong desire to help others. I kept this dream in my head for years to come, until in eighth grade I found the true meaning for my existence and an actual reason behind my childhood dream.
Eighth grade for me was when I had a very serious realization about who I was and what I was going to be able to accomplish in my life. For me, eighth grade was when school got serious and people began to figure out if they were going to be looking into Ivy League schools when they were older or if college would even be an option for them. I found myself somewhere in the middle. This is when I came to realize that I was never going to help find the cure for cancer or solve one of the Millennium Prize math problems, but what I could do was protect those people who would accomplish these things by being a Marine and making sure no man nor woman who was at this level of intelligence would ever lose their life like some did on September 11th, 2001. I was a strong person with a drive like nobody else that I have ever met. I was going to be a Marine.
At that point in my life I knew my purpose and I was set on achieving my dreams. About a year ago, college began to enter the picture and my father and I would discuss colleges, as many fathers and sons do. He introduced the Naval ROTC option to me, so that I could go to college and also be training for the Marine Corps at the same time. This became my plan. I began to look into colleges that had this phenomenal program and I realized that if I really wanted to do this, I would need to seriously improve my grades. So, at that point in my sophomore year I began to pull my grades up and go the extra mile because I was set on making my dreams come true.
Now that I am applying to colleges and planning on entering the NROTC program at whichever college I am fortunate enough to attend, my dream is starting to come true; The dream that I have had in my head and in my heart since I was just a boy is becoming tangible. It is a truly remarkable and almost unexplainable feeling to achieve one’s lifelong dream and I wish that every child with a dream could experience this. I was just a boy with a wild dream in my head; now I am a high school student with the opportunity to turn that wild dream into a reality.
EULOGY BY NICHOLAS' SISTER
There’s not much that I can say here that everyone doesn’t already know. I’m sure everybody knows how close I was with Nick. He was my big brother, bodyguard, protector, flip cup partner, and most of all, my very best friend. His presence radiated happiness to everyone around him and his smile was contagious. He could laugh at something that wasn’t even funny but you would be laughing too. He touched so many people’s lives without even knowing it. He had so much more time left and so many more things to do but I’m trying to focus on his time that he did spend with us. Nick and I were really close when we were little, we did everything together. When we wanted to have sleepovers in the same bed and my dad would say no, Nick used to say, “But why, Dad, you get to sleep with your best friend every night”. As we got older, he tortured me like any big brother would and then we went back to being best friends. He was my whole entire world. Everything I did I needed his approval or I wouldn’t do it. I would count down the days until he came back from college just so I could get one of his perfect back cracking hugs. He would do anything for me and I would do anything for him. He may have parted with us, but he made sure to leave me in the best hands he possibly could. His friends were his family and now they get to be mine too. Sometimes people would think Nick was scary or a little much, but I wouldn’t have him any other way. He taught me so much about life and gave me the best advice I could ask for. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be able to be this strong right now. All I ever wanted was to make him proud, and everything I do from now on, I do for him and to make him proud. I’m sorry that no one else could experience having Nick Flacco as an older brother, but I’m so very lucky I got to call him mine. He was truly one of a kind, that kid was so so special. It’s not a goodbye, it’s a see you later. I cannot wait for the day I get to see my best friend again. Please don’t be causing a scene up in heaven. I will love you for the rest of my days. This world is going to be so different without Nick Flacco in it, but we all promise to never let your memory die. You were the best thing in this world, just proves how much God needed you. Only the good die young. I love you big brother, until we meet again.