By: Jesse Uline

Recently two students from Shenendehowa were killed in a two car accident on the Northway at about 10:30 pm. In the car of the students that were killed, there were two other students. One of the students was from Shen and the other was from Shaker high school. The four students were on their way home from the Siena basketball game in Albany when a 22 year old drunk driver hit the students’ car, causing the boy driving to lose control and wrap his car around a tree.

The two students who passed in the accident were both seniors from Shen. Their names were Deanna Rivers and Christopher Stewart. Deanna was involved with the softball team at Shen and Christopher was involved with the football team. Both were known as incredible athletes and were both extremely well liked in and out of school.

This tragedy not only affected the Shen and Shaker school districts and communities, it has affected the entire 518 area. For the first time in a long time, an outrageous amount of teenagers from a bunch of different schools all over the capital district came together as one to make history.

Celebrities from Tim Tebow to Joba Chamberlain actually called one of the students who survived the accident, Matt Hardy, to encourage him to stay strong and to not give up on fighting for his life. In order for this to happen over thousands of students re-tweeted different hash tags on Twitter encouraging the role models to call the two students that are still living in order to provide them with hope and positive morale . It was stated on the 11 o’clock news last night that the Tim Tebow was the 3rd most trending event in the world. The number of students that were not familiar with one another, that got together for this event was pretty impressive.

The loss of the two innocent students is being felt state wide at this time. It’s times like this when we learn the true meaning of community, when there’s absolutely no hate between school rivals. Tragedies like this force people to put their differences aside and reach out a hand to help.

Two families are mourning right now due to the loss of their teenage children, who were both taken from this world and stripped from the opportunities that were in their reaching distance. This is the effect of a grown man being irresponsible and not only putting his own life in danger but everyone else on the road. Are a couple drinks really worth killing two kids? If you are planning on drinking please be sure to have a designated driver.

Rest In Peace Deanna Rivers and Christopher Stewart, both of you will truly be missed and never forgotten.