Grief counselors are available to students at Mission Hills High School in San Marcos following a weekend crash involving two students that left a girl dead, just a month shy of graduation. Friends and classmates identified the victim as senior Lauren Wolford, who was expected to graduate June 14.
She was walking near the school around 11a.m. Saturday when a sedan, whose driver apparently lost control jumped a sidewalk on East Mission Road, sheriff's officials said. She died at the scene. Students say the driver was a sophomore or junior baseball player at the high school. Sheriff's officials said he was not seriously injured in the crash, which left the front end of the car smashed into a wall.
School Principal Courtney Goode sent a recorded phone message to parents Saturday afternoon confirming that a student had died in a traffic accident. She informed them that crisis counselors would be available to students and staff on Monday. San Marcos Unified School District Superintendent Melissa Hunt said in a statement that district officials were making arrangements "to support our Grizzly families in the wake of this tragedy."
Hunt said counselors, social workers and psychologists from inside and outside the district would be at the school as long as the need persisted. "This is a terrible loss and our hearts go out to our student's family in what we know must be unimaginable grief," Hunt said in her statement.
A memorial for Wolford sprouted up near the campus over the weekend, with mourners dropping off candles, flowers, stuffed animals, photographs and hand-written notes. Tributes also poured in on social media. The deadly accident is still under investigation, and deputies asked anyone with information on the crash to call the Sheriff's Department's San Marcos substation at (760) 510-5295.
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