Every year my high school, Skyview, loses a senior. My freshman year a kid died in a fire, my sophmore year it was the dean's niece, my junior year Andrew Williams drowned, but this is my senoir year and this death hit the hardest.All year I have been wondering who it would be. "Who's next?" I would think "it could be me or Sara (my best friend), or anyone" both Sara and I realized this and talked about it. I knew it would happen and it did.
When I got to my first class today Mr. M told us that our conselor, Mr. W, was here to talk to us about Jennifer. And I knew that Jennifer was gone.
She went up into the mountains with her friend and boyfriend and got stuck in the snow, now she is gone. I didn't know her that well and I only talked to her a few times in my life but I can see her in my mind sitting across the room from me in government class, she was quiet and funny and she had a smile that turned up on one side. I knew her early on in highschool and when I saw her again she had a funky haircut like the one in the picture above. A friend of her's said she wanted to go into counseling and all i could think was "she would have been good at it.
Though I didn't know her well I cried when I found out she had passed away and I weep for all the students who have died in the past. Our counselor said she used to make jokes about National Free Balloon Day and I know whenever I see a bright-colored balloon in the future I will remember Jennifer Burkey and the hole her death left in our Senoir Class of 2007
