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Student was a 'gentle, glowing spirit'
Close-knit Knox group pulls together as they remember friend
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| | | Kaeli Kramer. Courtesy Dana Di Donato | |
June 04, 2009 | 12:43 PM
The life of a brilliant student was cut short last Tuesday after a truck struck her and a fellow student on the Farmingdale State College campus.
Kaeli Kramer, 19, of the West Hills section of Huntington, had been walking on campus with a classmate when the two were struck by a garbage truck that was backing up.
Kaeli's classmate, Aresh Saqib, 21, of Farmingdale, was taken to Nassau University Medical Center, where he was in stable condition with a fractured pelvis and possible internal injuries, according to Suffolk County police. The truck's driver, Guillermo Vargas, was also taken to that hospital, to be treated for emotional distress.
At Farmingdale State College, Kathy Coley, director of communications, said she did not yet know Kramer, who had been on campus for a mere two hours before the incident.
"Our hearts go out to the family," Coley said.
Kaeli was the only child of Linda and Peter Kramer, said George Allison, headmaster of The Knox School day and boarding school in St. James, from which she graduated as valedictorian last year.
"They're devastated," he said. Family members could not be reached for comment.
Kaeli had just completed her freshman year at Centenary College, a private institution in Hackettstown, N.J., where she had a double major in equine studies and biology. She chose the school for its riding program.
A statement issued by Centenary said that in her freshman year, "Kaeli had already accepted significant leadership roles on campus including responsibilities as diverse as schooling horses for the dressage team, volunteering for the college's therapeutic riding program and mentoring freshman students as a First Year Leader."
Octavia Brown, associate professor of equine studies, said, "She raised her hand to volunteer for therapeutic riding and has been faithful ever since. She turned her hand to any task that was required."
Kaeli was much more than a valedictorian, Allison said. "When I look back at the thousands and thousands of kids that I've dealt with, there's always two or three that really stand out. … Here's a girl that I met just once. To see the profound effect that this girl, 19 years old, has had on students, her peers, parents, people that she came in contact with — she was truly loved by all."
Kaeli was someone who always seemed to see the bright side of life, Allison added. "If it were raining, she was the type of person to say something good: 'Well, the flowers need the rain.' She was always cheerful."
Since Kaeli's death, he has been flooded with phone calls from former teachers and alumni, Allison said.
Janice Zingale, Knox's director of alumni affairs and student council adviser, described the accident "as sad as sad can be."
She said, "You look for reasons, which is what we're all doing together as a school family."
Kaeli was president of student council last year and returned to the campus twice this year: once for Christmas caroling and again two months ago to meet with Zingale.
"She and I spent a lot of time together," Zingale said. We had a lot of plans about what we were going to do with the alumni association." Kaeli had recently collected everyone's email addresses for her.
On Mother's Day, Zingale's cell phone beeped, she recalled. "It was a text message from Kaeli saying, 'Happy Mother's Day.' That's what kind of girl she was."
"I know that Kaeli's human and I'm sure she had some faults but they were never visible," Zingale continued. "She was just extraordinary in that way. A gentle, glowing spirit. She had a sort of aura of serenity and peace and joy around her, and that enabled her to make people comfortable."
A lot of the younger students emulated her, she said: "She was the person that made them feel comfortable when they first came to Knox."
For her valedictory, Kaeli focused on a the school's motto, "Semper Ad Lucem", a Latin phrase that means "always toward the light." She poignantly remarked, "This spark that is ignited and grows into a strong flame is nobly carried with each person for years to come."
At the close of her speech, she said, "At Knox, everyone, somehow, in some way affects one another. In this case, the people that you meet here and things you experience will always remind you of how you lived by the words 'Semper Ad Lucem' throughout your years of Knox history. From whenever you start at Knox and on, this simple phrase will always lead you toward the light, wherever that may be."
A memorial service was planned for Thursday, June 4 at 10 am at The Knox School's Bancroft-Phinney Hall, 541 Long Beach Road, St. James.
"It's going to be a celebration of her life," Allison said this week.
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