Grads killed in Peru crash remembered at Southeast High
As exam week started at Southeast High School on Tuesday morning, some students and school staff donned their bright orange and Hawaiian shirts to remember two recent graduates who died in an accident.
Albert Ales and Zachary Morris were killed in a motorbike crash in Peru, a news release from the School District of Manatee County said.
Students and staff wore Hawaiian or orange shirts Tuesday to honor and remember Ales and Morris. The two young men had recently graduated from the school’s International Baccalaureate program.
Morris and Ales had started a “Floral Friday” tradition at the school, where students would often wear floral or Hawaiian shirts on Fridays, said English teacher Nan Sisemore.
The two graduates were great friends and were always together, Sisemore said.
On school grounds, students and staff gathered and released several white balloons into the sky, even though Morris would have not approved, given his love for the environment, said Spanish teacher Cheri Greenhalgh.
Southeast principal Rosa Faison said it had been an extremely hard day.
“My students are just torn apart,” Faison said at a news conference in front of the school Tuesday afternoon. “These two young men had a huge impact on our campus, our teachers.”
Sisemore said she came to school Tuesday to find a letter on her desk from Morris, thanking her.
Wearing what they called crazy socks, with dinosaur designs on them in honor of Ales, Greenhalgh and Sisemore remembered their students at the news conference.
“I was fortunate to have both of these young men in class for multiple years and get to know them quite well. Their impact will be felt for years to come and their loss will be felt just as sorely,” Greenhalgh said.
She said there were a lot of heartache, tears, hugs, smiles and laughs among those gathered to remember Ales and Morris.
“The sudden loss of recent Southeast High graduates Albert Ales and Zachary Morris is a heartbreaking tragedy. Our prayers and condolences are with their families, friends, classmates and the entire Southeast High community,” Superintendent Cynthia Saunders said in a news release.
Greenhalgh said the two young men had unlimited potential.
“They were just stellar,” Greenhalgh said.
“Ninety percent of people in the would not believe the talent that those two had and the potential that they had, just so far above and beyond what we perceive as teenagers today. They and the ones like them ... are the hope for our future,” Sisemore said.
The two 18-year-olds were reportedly on their way to Saqsaywaman archaeological park in Cusco on Friday when their motorbike collided with a public transportation bus, Peruvian news outlet La República reported.
They were taken to a hospital but died from their injuries.
“These boys will be missed. We all love them and we’re all heartbroken right now,” Greenhalgh said.
As much potential as Morris and Ales held, teachers said they provided valuable assets to their community while still alive.
Greenhalgh said they were witty, quick to laugh, hug and support others.
Morris worked with wounded combat veterans while Ales worked a full-time job while in school, Sisemore said. Both were part of an engineering program at the school.
This story was originally published May 28, 2019 at 10:10 AM.