After a year at NHTI, DeVits applied to transfer to a four-year Bible college. He fell in love with Baptist Bible College and Seminary in Pennsylvania, where he wanted to earn bachelor's and master's degrees. But his plans to attend the college were delayed by dorm-accessibility issues, so DeVits remained at NHTI to complete his associate's degree. This year, Baptist Bible told DeVits they were ready for him, offering him a merit scholarship. He was supposed to matriculate in the fall.

At NHTI, DeVits needed the help of friends in the dorms to put socks and shoes on his size-22 feet - his spinal surgeries left him unable to bend over - or to right his wheelchair if he tipped. "There were always people there to help pick him up and dust him off," Caccia said. "And from him there was always a 'Thank you, and what can I do for you now for helping me?'"

Among other activities, DeVits served as the American Cancer Society's NHTI campus intern, organizing the school's Relay for Life team and working with students on tobacco-related issues. He earned college-tuition credits as an AmeriCorps volunteer. He traveled to Georgia during spring break to volunteer at a brain and spinal cord injury rehabilitation center.

"Wherever there was something happening, his smiling face was there ready to help out," said Lloyd, NHTI's coordinator for campus activities and community service programs.

DeVits felt ill Wednesday while working at the Merrimack County Juvenile Diversion Program, where he counseled teens as part of his course of study at NHTI. He called a friend to take him back to campus, where his condition worsened suddenly, and he began spitting up blood. He was rushed to Concord Hospital, where he died about an hour after arriving. Doctors initially thought he died when a blood clot entered his lungs, but the medical examiner has not yet determined the cause of death, DeVits's mother said.

Thursday night, about 250 students and staff gathered at NHTI for a vigil, sharing memories of DeVits by candlelight on the quad. Curran, who has taught at the school for 23 years, had never seen the campus mobilize like that for anyone. "Everyone knew Zech, and he was an awe-inspiring individual," she said.

It was a fitting tribute to DeVits, whose presence on campus was just as outsized as everything else about him. "If there's a way to measure a man, he's the yardstick,"Lloyd said.

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By ERIC MOSKOWITZ

Monitor staff

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