News

Actions

Grandville High School Mourns The Loss Of Another Student

Posted at 8:36 PM, May 05, 2014
and last updated 2014-05-05 20:36:43-04

GRANDVILLE, Mich. (May 5, 2014) – Grandville High School is mourning the loss of another student.

On Saturday, 18-year-old Roman Aguilar was killed in a crash in Mecosta County.

Come Monday, counselors were at the school helping students and staff.

FOX 17 sat down with the high school’s principal, Chris VanderSlice, who said Aguilar was an ambitious student who always had a smile on his face.

“He just was a student that everybody liked and hard working and had a lot of opportunities in front of him.”

VanderSlice said Aguilar, who was with the district since elementary school, dreamed of becoming a police officer and was dual enrolled in Kent Career Technical Center’s criminal justice program.

“We host a police academy here every summer and it’s an application only process for students to get into that and he participated in that last summer and instructors just loved him in that,” VanderSlice said.

The loss comes shortly after another blow for the bulldogs. Aguilar is the third student to die at the high school this year. Freshman Alyssa Arends died on March 2 after battling bone cancer. Then, just five days later, a senior at the school, Ryan Fischer died in his sleep of an enlarged heart.

“I selected a theme of grit at the beginning of the year. I had no idea that we would have to deal with the things we’ve dealt with this year,” VanderSlice said. “But, that idea of grit has really hit home for our students and kind of taken off and I think in some extent they take pride in that we do have grit.”

Through it all, VanderSlice said the students who walk into school everyday, have shown courage and compassion for their classmates. He said when the seniors move on to their next path in life they’ll be ready for whatever the future may hold.

“Our senior class has lost Roman and Ryan this year. So, were going to make sure that at graduation, at the end of year activities, that they are recognized as part of the class,” VanderSlice said. They earned every right to be there at graduation. They earned every right to be there with their classmates and celebrate and unfortunately they won’t be with us physically but we’re going to make sure everyone knows they’re there with us in spirit.”

No word yet on when funeral arrangements for Aguilar will be.