BENSON -- Alyssa Heider had a knack for getting her shy classmates to open up. In middle school, she once threw a dance party as a class project.
Three-and-a-half years after Heider died in a car wreck at age 13, she continues to inspire West Johnston High School senior Victoria Creese.
Creese, 17, is raising money to offer college scholarships to promote safe teen driving. The effort is Creese's senior project, a graduation requirement in Johnston schools. She's motivated by her friend Heider, who helped her come out of her shell.
"She would brighten up a room," Creese said.
What happened on the afternoon of Aug. 15, 2006, is a too-common story in Johnston County, which has one of the state's highest rates of teen deaths from highway accidents. Heider, an incoming freshman at West Johnston, had gone to Tucker Lake near Benson with her new volleyball teammates. On the way back, Melissa Willis, 16, failed to stop her Camaro at a stop sign on Raleigh Road, not far from the school. A pickup truck T-boned her convertible.
Emily Mya, 16, who was in the front passenger seat, died later that day. Heider, who was in the back seat, died four days later. Willis survived and has since graduated from West Johnston High School.
All three girls were wearing seatbelts. But Creese wants to raise awareness about another safety measure: North Carolina law limits young drivers to no more than one passenger under age 21. "Students don't need to be dying on the roads," Creese said.
After the accident that summer afternoon, doctors sewed Heider's right ear back in place. They put her broken legs in traction. But the swelling on her brain was too much.
Heider's mother, Yvette Davis, has had daily reminders of her daughter as she teaches 12th-grade English classes at West Johnston. Heider would have been a senior this year, and the students she grew up with now fill the seats in Davis' class.
Davis hears students whisper "Shh!" when someone mentions her daughter's name. They're not sure how a mother will react. The year after the accident, Davis taught Willis, the driver, in class.
Davis said she talks to her students about what happened. The accident has made her more in tune with kids' concerns, she said. She speaks at driver-education classes throughout the county.
Davis said she is moved by Creese's efforts to create a scholarship fund. Creese wants to award $250 to one senior at each of Johnston County's six high schools.
She's visiting schools and asking faculty members to donate. She hopes to raise enough money so that she can offer scholarships next year, too. Johnston schools Superintendent Ed Croom has already donated $100 to the fund, Creese said.
"For me, it's an amazing opportunity to see one more time how Alyssa touched someone's life," Davis said.
