Lincoln Loses Beloved Senior

Lincoln lost beloved senior, Kiely Vaca, this past weekend in a small plane crash travelling from Frazier Lake Airpark in Hollister to Watsonville. The Cessna 140 went missing and crashed in the evening of Saturday, November 8th.

LA Times wrote the Cessna 140 was found approximately four miles north from Hollister. The damaged plane was found the next day with no survivors by a search crew composed of volunteers. Ms.Vaca and her grandfather Jon Dennis, a well known pilot, were aboard the plane.

The plane was scheduled to return to Hollister, but did not. Then, a search was organized Saturday evening. It is still unknown how or why the plane crashed, but the National Transportation Safety Board investigators are trying to figure out the cause.

In an e-mail, principal Matthew Hewitson said that a fund has been created at Chase Bank on Coleman to collect donations for help with [Ms.Vaca’s] funeral and burial costs. Checks can be made payable to the Kiely Vaca fund and dropped off at the Principal’s office, or at the bank itself.

A tweet posted by Melissa Higgins, Ms.Vaca’s mother, mentioning that services will take place on Nov. 18. More information will be coming soon since this information has not been confirmed and the location is untold.

Ms.Vaca played varsity basketball at Lincoln as a sophomore and was planning to return this year. An article on NBC Bay Area wrote that Lincoln’s basketball team has decided to retire Ms.Vaca’s jersey, #13, and play this season in Ms.Vaca’s memory.

She also played softball and worked as a supervisor at Great America. Ms.Vaca was also an artist; her work was displayed at Lincoln’s Dia De Los Muertos event.

Ms.Vaca’s softball coach, Andrew Christian said, “Kiely was always smiling and a happy person.” He continued, “she was the heart and soul of team — always brought people up.” The softball team is devastated by their teammate’s loss and are planning to somehow acknowledge Ms.Vaca this year.

The news was confirmed by late Monday afternoon. However, most students knew by Sunday evening and all students and teachers were aware of the news by Monday morning.

Since Sunday, students have been posting kind words or photos of Ms. Vaca on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other sources of social media.

Monday, Nov. 10th, was a very quiet day at school. Teachers gave students the chance to just take a break, put their head down, or talk to available Lincoln counselors.

In another e-mail Hewitson sent out, he wrote “SJUSD Crisis Counselors will be on campus for students.” Hewitson also called Ms.Vaca a “funny and smart kid who will be missed deeply.”

A group of Lincoln students are selling colorful bracelets that say “RIP KIELY” in the middle for $1. All money raised will be used to purchase Christmas gifts for Ms.Vaca’s younger brother. The team is also taking letter bead donations to make more bracelets. If you are interested in buying a bracelet or helping the cause in any way, you can e-mail Serena Fueston at [email protected] or @serenaxo_.

Lincoln teachers were also affected by the news. Ms.Vaca’s government teacher, Maureen McCorry said, “Kiely was engaged in a way that was very powerful in a Social Studies class — she had great insight, was willing to take a stand, and didn’t care about what others thought about her or her opinions.”

“Her peers saw her as a real leader in the class,” McCorry said, “we will miss her energy and her courage to be who she was.”