Business administration senior Nicole Scalone died June 12 in a car accident on Highway 101 near Higuera Street around 2:30 a.m.. The following tribute is by the Scalone Family.
Nicole Annalise Scalone, 22, of Bellevue, Washington, passed away on June 12, 2019 in San Luis Obispo.
Nicole was born April 7, 1997 in Redmond, Washington to Joe and Cory Scalone. She has a brother, Michael Scalone, and a sister, Alexandria Scalone. Nicole looked up to her big brother for his physical strength in lifting weights and his mental strength in coaching and encouraging others including herself. She adored her sister Alexandria who introduced her to photography and taking outdoor wilderness pictures. They used to sing to each other, “Who’s the best sister in the whole wide world, you are, you are!” Nicole was very close to her mother, Cory, and had a hour and half phone call with her just hours before her passing. Nicole learned how to be a survivor, to be selfless and to provide for others from her mother. Nicole adored and admired her father who taught her to be a strong, independent woman.
Nicole was an incredibly kind, unselfish, caring, loving and thoughtful daughter, sister and friend. She was the kind of person who would always offer to help you with a task or quietly pitch in where needed. In January 2019, she took a CPR class so she could be ready to help others. She always remembered other with cards, gifts and letters on special days like birthdays and holidays. She never wanted to see other people hurt and never had even an unkind word to say about anyone.
She attended Sunset Elementary, “Puesta del Sol,” a Spanish immersion school in Bellevue, and learned to speak Spanish from kindergarten through high school. She helped her team win at the Math Olympiad, a state-wide math competition, and participated in charity events like a grade school walk-a-thon.
At a very early age, she stood out as a tenacious competitor. She played soccer and won multiple awards in gymnastics. She attended Tillicum Middle School, played cello, sang in the choir and was a cheer leader. She loved playing volleyball. At first she played club volley ball with ITVC. She went on to play on the junior varsity and varsity volleyball teams as outside hitter at Newport High School, helping the varsity team go to the state championship.
During high school she also had jobs at Macy’s as a sales associate, as a hostess at Gene Juarez Salons and Spas, and was a Snowflake Lane Stilt Walker for the Bellevue Collection.
She liked photography, just like her big sister who introduced her to the hobby. She also liked drawing and painting acrylics, and was exceptionally good at throwing a pot on the wheel. She photographed the San Luis Obispo TEDx, Making Waves.
She loved animals and had a pet black cat named Luna. She had wanted to get another cat when she moved back to Seattle after graduation.
Nicole especially enjoyed live music. She loved anything Beyoncé. She liked Jorja Smith’s music. She would listen the Ctrl album by SZA all the way through and saw Beyoncé, Jorja Smith and SZA all in concert. She attended many festivals, including Bumbershoot, Sasquatch, and Coachella.
She filled up her life calendar with places to go and things to do. Every year she volunteered at a foodbank in South Seattle, feeding the homeless. In 2018 she studied in Florence, Italy as part of the CEA Study Abroad program, and traveled extensively in Europe. During the summer of 2018, she climbed a peak in Issaquah with her father and tried small boat sailing with her dad on Lake Washington and loved it, wanting to do it again. She also loved kayaking with her mom; something they did often rain or shine singing their favorite song “Build me up Buttercup.” She went camping in the Colorado wilderness with her sister Ali and attended a Joe Bonamassa concert with Ali and her dad at Red Rocks. In January 2019, she marched in a Women’s march with an “Unbossed and Unbought” sign about Shirley Chisholm and started a series of hikes around SLO. When she or others had a problem she learned to ask “What would Shirley Chisholm do?” as a way of finding strength in strong women role models. She used that strength to mentor other young ladies. She liked to work out and could squat 135 lbs, after being introduced to lifting by her big brother. She helped her sister Ali market her website and was a model in Ali’s photo shoots. In April 2019, she hiked Bishops peak and camped at Big Sur with her friends Katie, Caroline and Mackenzie. She loved the majestic views of Big Sur. Nicole had a maturity beyond her age and a quiet wisdom that life was short. She wanted to experience as much of it as she could and filled her life calendar to make it happen.
Nicole had a long time boyfriend through high school and college, Taylor Louis from Bellevue, Washington. They were close and did a lot together, including camping, attending many concerts and music shows together, volunteering and traveling around the western states. They had been planning to find a place and move in together at the end of the summer.
Nicole attended college at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and received a business administration degree, concentrating in information systems. While at Cal Poly, she was a member of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. She participated in the Orfalea College of Business Peer Mentoring Program. She worked as the PR and Event Planning intern with the Downtown SLO Association, as an associate at the Kennedy Club Multiplex and did some baby sitting for children off campus. She was an excellent student and got the highest grade in her class for software testing. She was also a Team Leader for Cal Poly Corporation. Nicole loved Cal Poly, the school, the people, the town, the hills and surrounds and especially the nearby beaches where she would visit frequently and engage in fun activities like four-wheeling and exploring Knapp’s Castle and the Hearst Castle.
Nicole was selected as a recipient of the Cal Poly Women in Business Association’s Defining Her Future Scholarship. The scholarship committee received many outstanding essay responses and was very pleased with Nicole’s, as “it addressed the prompt in a unique manner that stood out among others!” The purpose of this scholarship is to support women in advancing the skills and training they need to successfully position themselves effectively across a wide variety of industries.
In the last few weeks before she died, she went skydiving, drove with her cousin Noor from Pennsylvania to Portland (through storms with near-by tornados), and saw Devil’s Tower, Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone park. She then vacationed for a week in Dublin, Ireland with her cousin.
Nicole had interviewed for jobs with the Seahawks and Costco, and accepted an offer to start at Costco as a product owner IT intern for Summer 2019, with the strong possibility of a full time job at the end of the summer. There had been over 600 applicants, and Nicole got the job. In May 2019, she passed exams for both Product Owner and Scrum Master certifications.
Nicole’s new year’s resolution for 2019 was to listen to her body, be kind to herself and do at least one pull-up. She wanted the world to be a better place and would want her passing to serve as a reminder to be kind to yourself and cherish those around you every day.