IONIA COUNTY, Mich. — Four high school students were hurt in a charter bus accident involving the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre Saturday morning. The bus veered off the highway and hit a guardrail. One student is still receiving critical medical attention. The other three students are now home from the hospital.
16-year-old Makayla DePriest was one of the four students hospitalized after the accident. I spoke with her mom, Kailey DePriest, who says she received a Life360 alert at the time of the accident, informing her that her daughter was in a crash. “Me and her were texting when it happened just a couple minutes before, and as I went to lay my phone down, I got the crash alert that she had been involved in an accident,” DePriest said. “I immediately called her, and she said, ‘Hey, mom, I’ve been in an accident.’ And I said, ‘I’m on my way.’”
Already in a fragile state having had brain surgery in June, Makayla is still in need of further medical treatment. “She’s got chronic Hydrocephalus, so she’s got a higher intracranial pressure in her head already,” DePriest explains, which further elevates the severity of her injuries. “She had a concussion, so she had a severe headache, dizziness, nausea…” DePriest adds.
DePriest says Makayla is more worried about her friends than anything else. There were nine students on the bus at the time of the accident, along with three staff members and the driver. “I do want to thank the staff members that were with these kids," DePriest said. "They put their own well-being aside to make sure the kids were fine."
The Grand Rapids Civic Theatre prepares students for a career in performing arts, and their students on the bus were headed to Oberlin College in Ohio, when it crashed at 6:54 AM on Interstate 96 near Kent Street in Portland Township. “The first thing she remembers is the door being ripped off the bus,” DePriest recalls.
DePriest is a single mom, and Makayla is her only child. “I’ve kind of always told her 'We are in this together... no matter what, you are my world.' So that's where it stops,” DePriest said.
Although left without details of what happened Saturday morning, DePriest is just grateful Makayla is home.
The crash remains under investigation by the Michigan State Police Lakeview Post, but in the meantime, DePriest has a GoFundMe to help with Makayla’s recovery.
Additionally, the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre is inviting everyone to join them this Wednesday from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. to make homemade cards for Makayla and the other student still in the hospital.
For more information on the event, click here.
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