| THE MISSISSAUGA NEWS Students mourn classmate Crash kills girl 'with so much potential' Teen was ready to work by helping those in need LOUIE ROSELLA Apr 16, 2003 Jessica Paczek was a special teen. Unlike your typical, indecisive teenager, she knew exactly what she wanted to do in life. Just 15, the Meadowvale resident was already taking steps to fulfill her goal of becoming a social worker. With a summer job as a camp counsellor lined up, it seemed nothing was going to stop this determined, guitar-playing young girl from doing what she does best: helping people, according to her mother, Linda Cain. "She loved to help people," said Cain yesterday. "She made a name for herself listening to friends' problems and giving them advice, and she thought it'd be great if she could take her best talent and turn it into a career." It was this infectious enthusiasm, relentless ambition, and above all, Jessica's big heart, which made the teen's death Sunday that much more shocking. The St. Aloysius Gonzaga high school student was one of four teens killed in a crash near Campbellford -- about two hours east of Mississauga -- that police there called "one of the most tragic accidents in a long while." Northumberland OPP were trying to figure out how a silver 2002 Audi, carrying Jessica and four young people, left a straight stretch of Burnbrae Rd. and glanced off a telephone pole and some trees before rolling several times into the south ditch. When officers arrived at the scene, three kilometres east of Campbellford, at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, they found the badly damaged vehicle containing three young men -- one of them still alive. Another youth and Jessica had been thrown from the car. She was pronounced dead at the scene by a coroner. Also killed were the driver, Andrew Milano, 18, Matthew Thibert, 18, and Phillip Cunningham, 17, all of Campbellford. Another passenger, Randy Rogers, 17, of nearby Hastings, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police would not say if the use of seat belts or alcohol played a role in the fatalities, but did hint the area wasn't well lit. "It's a backroad, its a paved road, but there are no street lights or anything," said Northumberland OPP Senior Constable James Stone. In crashes where any drivers or passengers are thrown from the vehicle, the chances of them having a seatbelt on before the accident are slim, police added. Ironically, the crash came in the midst of a provincial campaign urging motorists to buckle up. Andrew had picked up Jessica in Toronto Saturday afternoon for an overnight stay with another friend near Campbellford. Jessica, a diabetic, had met the friend at Camp Huronda in Huntsville, a summer camp for children with Type 1 diabetes. The friend had just been dropped off at his home before the tragedy. "She made a lot of great friends at that camp," said Cain. "The camp helped my daughter deal with the challenges of diabetes." Cain could still recall the last words she said to her daughter, "Make sure you have everything. Be careful. I love you." All of the youths had been at Andrew's home until about 1:30 a.m., when they decided to go for a ride in a car owned by a friend of the Milano family. "I have no idea where they were going at that time, maybe for pop or chips or something," Cain said. "They weren't bad kids." Jessica was also part of her Social Justice Group at school, a group that makes and distributes food for Toronto's homeless. Teachers and students at Jessica's school held a liturgy for her Monday. "She was a magnificent young lady," said St. Aloysius Gonzaga principal Ezio Crescenzi. "I think a friend of hers said it best. 'If this accident happened to anybody else, Jessica would be the first on the scene to help.'" |