The @Collegian_GCC @gcc.collegian The Collegian: The GCC Newspaper
Friday, February 15, 2019
Collegian The Grove City College Student Newspaper
Vol. 104, No. 13
Grief hangs heavy
Campus wrestles with the loss of two Young Life high school students Paige Fay
Community Editor Grief is not an easy thing to talk about. It’s painful, awkward and, as hard as we try, sometimes the words just can’t capture the feelings. Grove City students and community members gathered together Wednesday night to grieve the loss of two Hickory High School students who died in a car crash while traveling to a Young Life placement ceremony at the College. Alexis Myers, 16, and Danielle Nelson, 15, both of Hermitage, were in a car with two other girls at 7:20 p.m. Sunday on Interstate 80 near Mercer, Pa., when it slid out of control in the ice and snow and was hit by two tractor-trailers. The other girls in the car suffered serious injuries and were
Myers
Nelson
transported to Pittsburgh hospital. The tragedy has left much pain and grief in its wake, especially among the students and leaders in Young Life ministry. Students and community members somberly gathered in small groups to talk about the event and pray for those involved and affected. Grove City’s interim chaplain Rev. Dean Weaver, pastors from local churches, counselors from Zerbe Counseling Center and the regional director of Young Life, Alex Eckard, and his wife were also present. Weaver encouraged students to help each other and not try to “fix” the
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grieving students. Just be with them and pray for them, he said, but don’t try to make them feel better so that you feel better. “The number one thing is the ministry of presence. Just be with them, whether it is a walk, or a trip to Beans on Broad to get a coffee together. Secondly, pray with them. Pray for God’s comfort, peace and presence,” he said. Weaver said that feeling bad is how we heal. “If you don’t process grief well and suppress it, it comes back to bite you in really detrimental ways and will affect your emotional and mental wellbeing,” Weaver said. Elizabeth Messer, the Women’s Ministries coordinator, explained the importance of faith in trying times. “We place our hope in things unseen and look
forward to a new heaven and a new earth where God will restore all and make all things new. We believe that in times of tragedy that ‘God is near the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit’ and that God will send the Comforter—another name for the Holy Spirit—to us in these times of grief and mourning,” she said. The Counseling Center emphasized that grief is an individual process. “It is okay to not know what to say during this time, so we encourage people to not feel like you have to say the ‘right thing’ because there is no ‘right thing’ to say,” Zerbe counselors said. “For some people, grief may look like talking with trusted friends or mentors about their experiences, but for others it may be a time for quiet,
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private reflection.” The Counseling Center, Campus Ministries and Residence Life are available to help students dealing with grief. In addition, Campus Ministries has just implemented a weekly grief support gathering that will meet Tuesday nights from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Grace Room of Rathburn Hall. Claire Megles, a hospice chaplain from the area, is helping to lead the gathering. These gatherings are for students who have experienced any kind of loss in their past. “We want to be able to provide something for students that will help them process in a healthy way,” Weaver said. “People don’t make dealing with grief a priority. Sometimes people don’t pay attention to grief until later when it becomes more of a crisis than before.”
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COMMUNITY