Boulder,CO : CU Boulder student killed in crash on August, Monday 14th 2017

Well before Konrad Zajkowski was a student at the University of Colorado, he kept an aerial photo of Boulder in his room in Roselle, Ill., and told his family he'd move there someday.

Zajkowski kept the promise, and in a short time grew into a beloved community member.

Early on the morning of July 28, Zajkowski and two friends were driving on I-70 near Byers when they crashed. Zajkowski, 21, was pronounced dead shortly after the crash. One friend was unscathed and another suffered non-fatal injuries.

Those who knew him are now mourning a man who was, by all accounts, the soul of every room he entered.

"When he would walk in the door, no matter how stressful it was, you would feel relief, because your buddy was there," said Whitney Gleave, owner of Boss Lady Pizza on University Hill, where Zajkowski worked for two years.

"A lot of people talked about how they'd try to make him mad or try to frustrate him, but they could never break him. He was always happy."

That was true at home in Illinois, at the restaurant, at the Rocky Mountain Day Camp where he also worked, in photographs and in the memories of the more than 100 people who gathered at Boss Lady on Wednesday to mark his death.

"There were a lot of tears," said David Hansburg, Zajkowski's boss at the camp. "Everyone remembers Konrad so fondly."

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Had the car not crashed, Zajkowski was set to pass that spirit on to children; he aspired to be an elementary teacher.

But that was a fairly recent development.

"Throughout his life, he had always wanted to be an FBI agent. He dressed up as a policeman for many years on Halloween," said his older sister, Alexandra.

Zajkowski was the youngest of three siblings; his brother, Lukasz, is the eldest.

Zajkowski arrived in Colorado with plans to study history and political science en route to a career in law enforcement.

Around that time, Alexandra was finishing her studies in Chicago and doing some student teaching. She told her little brother about it, and he was "intrigued," she said.

"He told me he was going to be a teacher after he retired from the FBI," Alexandra said.

Then he got a job at the Rocky Mountain Day Camp in Boulder, and there he found his passion.

"The kids really brightened his day," Alexandra said. "Everything they did and everything they said, he found hilarious."

He was a counselor for two summers, leading the 5-year-old boys. He'd arrive fired up every morning, Hansburg said, including on days when he had earlier worked until 3 a.m. at Boss Lady.

"He could take any kid and find a way to make them feel included," Hansburg said. "So many parents and so many kids really liked him. He was the kind of counselor where kids would go home to their parents and talk about how awesome he was."

Many of those same kids and parents have confirmed as much in the days since he died.

Outside of school and work, Zajkowski was, like many who dream of moving to Colorado, a nature lover. He especially enjoyed hiking.

He was also a voracious reader who finished "The Art of War" somewhere between five and 10 times, according to his sister.

And he was a deeply loyal family member who worked for his parents, Polish immigrants Marek and Jolanta, and initially delayed his enrollment at CU because it was far from home.

His memory will continue to brighten their lives, Alexandra said.

"Konrad always smiled," she added. "He was never upset. He always thought life was wonderful."



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CU Boulder student killed in crash