Alyssa Alhadeff

Alyssa Mirriam Alhadeff was a beautiful all-American teenage girl. She loved going to the mall with friends, playing soccer and obsessing over boys. With such a huge heart, she could make anyone feel welcomed and loved no matter who they were or where they came from. Traits like these contributed to her affectionate personality and her overall friendliness.

“Alyssa was obsessed with her friends and really liked boys. She also loved going on her cellphone. She wanted the American dream as far as striving to be the best. She took such high level classes in school, but at the same time had such a strong, active social life. She had that good balance,” Alyssa’s mother, Lori Alhadeff, said.

Alyssa was born on May 1, 2003 in Queens, New York to Lori and Ilan Alhadeff. She grew up in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey and moved to Parkland in 2014 with her two younger brothers.

From a young age, Alyssa was always full of energy and determination. Whether she was arguing for her right to go see a movie with friends or debating her piece in a speech and debate competition, she knew how to get her way.

“Alyssa was such a fighter. She was spunky and an incredible debater. She just always got her way and never gave up. If she wanted to go to the mall with friends, she would just say ‘Mommy, why can’t I go to the mall,’ and would give 10 reasons as to why she should be there,” Lori Alhadeff said.

Alyssa’s favorite sport was soccer, which she started playing at 3 years old. When she moved to Parkland, she joined the South Florida United Youth Soccer Association.

“I first met Alyssa at tryouts. From that day, Alyssa completely stood out to us,” coach Caterina Yibirin said. “The coaches and I were so impressed, and we knew we had to keep an eye on her.”

Alyssa played for the Parkland Soccer Club as well as for the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School women’s varsity team. Due to her athletic abilities and soccer training as an attacking midfielder, Alyssa was promoted to the varsity team near the end of the season.

The U.S. women’s national soccer team honored Alyssa during the SheBelieves Cup at the Orlando City Stadium on March 7, after junior Jamie Morris, who played alongside Alyssa on the soccer team, reached out to them, stating how devoted of a soccer player Alyssa was. “Everyone was working on how to move forward, and my team felt like we needed to talk more about the victims and honor our friends. So, I sent out a tweet, and I asked Emma Gonzalez and Cameron Kasky, who are part of the Never Again movement, to retweet it. That got the ball rolling. Our whole team took a bus to Orlando to watch the team play and honor our friend,” Morris said.

To honor Alyssa as well as the 17 other victims, the women’s soccer team displayed Alyssa’s jersey near their home field and made posters along with shirts.

On and off the field, Alyssa was said to have the most contagious laugh and smile. Whether she was goofing around on the field or trying to make a friend’s day brighter, she always did it with a smile.

“She was always the life of the party, and she never met a person she couldn’t make laugh. Her laugh was contagious to everyone that heard her within a mile radius,” freshman Emily Burke said. “She made me laugh even when I am at my worst.”

Alyssa loved spending time with her friends and listening to their stories or sharing her own. She only ever saw the best in people and made sure her friends knew she had their back.

“She was a rare friend that always had your back and always protected you no matter what. She hated drama and tried avoiding any conflicts,” Burke said.

Alyssa’s dream vacation was anywhere that had a beach. Her absolute favorite beach spot was Long Branch, New Jersey.

“Alyssa was obsessed with the beach. She was especially obsessed with Long Branch, New Jersey. Any chance she got to go on the waves, she was in the ocean and would just hang out on the beach,” Lori Alhadeff said.

If you were to see Alyssa’s playlist, she would be listening to her favorite song: “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus. With friends, she would be caught watching one of her favorites movies “47 Meters Down.”

Alyssa was known to be kind to everyone and only ever saw the best in people. Alyssa would frequently volunteer at homeless shelters for children, where she would care for them and make sure to connect with each and every child. Whether she was baking special treats, such as cookies, with them or just talking to them, she made sure that she became friends with every individual, no matter their background or situation.

“She was so kind-hearted. She would reach out to these kids that were homeless. At one shelter, she would just pick them up and put them on her hip. She would bring them and engage them and would bake cookies with them with icings and sprinkles. She didn’t care about race or anything like that; she just took what they were as a person,” Lori Alhadeff said. “I believe that that is such an amazing quality — to not care about economic status or ethnicity. She just accepted people for the way they were and who they were.”

In school, Alyssa was an involved member of Debate Club, which she planned on taking for the rest of high school. She competed in “duo interpretation” with her partner and friend, freshman Abigail Price, and often would attend different competitions across South Florida. She was recently invited to compete at FFL State Qualifiers. “I would like people to know how kind, considerate and hardworking Alyssa was. She was a determined optimist with an infectious nervous laugh. Alyssa was excited to take debate next year and play a more active role as a team leader,” debate teacher Jesus Caro said.

Alyssa was also in the process of creating a dramatic piece. The speech highlighted two young girls who were in a mental health facility. The story focuses on how they find themselves with an unexpected bond, as they confess to each other how their family abandoned them in the facility.

“Alyssa had a unique ability to convey powerful messages to the world,” Caro said.

Alyssa also took many rigorous courses throughout high school, such as Algebra II Honors as a freshman. Although she did not know what college she wanted to attend yet, she had made it clear to both friends and family that she did not want to stay in state for college and wanted to go up north instead.

“Alyssa was a student that worked hard to earn an ‘A’ for every marking period in Algebra II Honors. She was usually quiet in class and seldom asked for help with her classwork,” Algebra II teacher Jeffrey Taylor said. “She enjoyed the challenge of doing math and was on track to complete AP Calculus AB and AP Calculus BC before graduating from MSD.”

After high school, Alyssa was planning on becoming a therapist for teenagers. Since she had a talent for connecting with the people around her, she wanted to channel that into a career.

Alyssa was also a very avid writer, who enjoyed creative writing. She had an incredible way of weaving words together to create beautiful stories.

“She was always super intelligent and was an incredible creative writer. I actually have every single piece of her writings since she started to write,” Lori Alhadeff said. “She just has this incredible way of thinking in her writing. The way she would connect with her words is beyond basic and such a high level of thinking.”

During the summer, Alyssa attended a Jewish sleepaway camp at Camp Coleman in Cleveland, Georgia.

“She was known for her smile. Every camper talked about her amazing smile. It’s not typical to start camp at ninth grade, but she did that at ease. She came in and made friends very quickly,” Camp Coleman director Bobby Harris said.

Alyssa was both quirky and sometimes clumsy. Many of her fellow teammates remember her tripping at soccer practices and constantly laughing.

“My best memory with Alyssa was when we were in Target goofing around. She accidentally knocked down a whole rack of clothes and just ran away,” Price said. “We would always [be] constantly laughing. She would just have to give me a look, and I would start laughing.”

Alyssa made a lasting impact on the world with her kindness and warmth. She was a friend that anyone would always be able to count on, a loving daughter, a caring sister, a determined student and a committed soccer player. Most importantly, Alyssa was able to brighten anyone’s day and instantly make anything better through her bright smile and contagious laugh, which her friends and family will cherish forever. Story by Leni Steinhardt; photos courtesy of Emily Burke and Molly and Rebecca Marks