The campus community at St. Francis University in Cambria County has been coping with the deaths of two students after a car carrying five first-year students -- including an Irwin woman -- crashed last week in Cresson Township.
Kayla Nicodemus, 18, of Bedford in Bedford County and Kaylee Harford, 18, of Emporium in Cameron County died of injuries in the Sept. 27 evening crash.
Brittany Smola, 18, of Irwin was treated and released after the crash. Jessica Rivera of Frederick, Md., and Allison Koncz of Duncansville in Blair County remain hospitalized.
Cresson Township police are investigating the crash, a spokesman said Friday. Rivera was driving when she lost control of the vehicle around a curve.
About 250 students at the small college in Loretto participated in a candlelight vigil Tuesday night that began at St. Clare Hall, where all the women lived on campus.
Harford died the night of the crash, and Nicodemus died Wednesday.
The college's president, the Rev. Gabriel Zeis, was with the families on the night of the crash and conducted Harford's funeral in her hometown, university spokesman Ross Feltz said yesterday.
"It's a small campus, it's a tightly knit campus, and there's a real presence of Franciscan friars who are very available to the kids," Feltz said.
St. Francis' campus ministry has been involved with the women's families and the university has updated the students' hallmates with information about their conditions, he said.
This week was planned to be a celebration of the annual feast of St. Francis and a groundbreaking of a new building on campus, but became a reflection on the fragility of life, Feltz said.
"There have been prayers every day during Mass," he said.
Attempts to reach Smola for an interview were unsuccessful.
As of yesterday afternoon, eight of Nicodemus' friends had left memorial messages on her public MySpace.com page.
