It will be a somber first day of school at Swan Valley High School. Students are mourning a much loved student who died in an automobile accident.
Seventeen-year-old Schuyler Hickey died Saturday near Petoskey while trying to enjoy the Labor Day weekend with friends.
“They were just taking a short drive in a Jeep with no roof or doors and they hit a corner wrong and it flipped,” said her friend Melissa Pitts.
“I just keep using not whole,” says Amalia Vargas, describing how she feels.
Vargas says she feels like she lost a part of herself when Schuyler died. She says the high school senior loved photography, worked passionately on the school yearbook and always had a positive outlook. She hopes her friend knew what she meant to people.
“If I could say one thing to her, I’d say thank you for being a part of my life,” said Vargas.
“She just had a way of making people feel special in their own way,” added Pitts.
Josh Simmons says he is a year below Schuyler in school, but she always took time to brighten his day in an art class they shared last year.
“Everyone was friends with her. Everyone knew her,” said Simmons. “Rest in peace Schuyler. You will always be loved.”
The principal at Swan Valley says counselors and clergy from area churches will be on hand to speak with grieving students in the days ahead.
Schuyler Hickey’s funeral is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10, 2010 at W. L. Case & Company, 201 N. Miller Road in Shields. Friends are invited to visit with the family at the funeral chapel on Friday from 11 a.m. until the time of the service.
