Cardinal Gibbons student dies in Wake County crash

Madeline Grace Shook, 16, of Raleigh, was traveling north on Possum Track Road, in northern Wake County, when the car ran off the road at a high speed, ultimately striking several trees, the state Highway Patrol said.

She died at the scene. She was the only occupant in the vehicle.

Shook's classmates remember her as someone who brought out the best in others.

"She seemed to have a lot of friends in my class," said Dan McGillicuddy, who had a forensics class with her. "She just seemed to light up the room. She made people around her happy."

McGillicuddy said he learned of Shook's death in forensics class.

It was depressing," he said. "The whole mood of the classroom was really dim. We couldn't really focus on our work."

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The school held a Mass in her honor Tuesday afternoon.

Avery Firlet, another of Shook's classmates, said she saw people crying in the school's hallways.

"Everyone was just down," said Emily Magdefrau, a junior at the school. "No one was themselves in class."

Shook was a runner on the school's cross country team.

Classmates say she had a bright future.

"I don't think things will ever be the same," McGillicuddy said. "Once you know someone, once they're gone, you just can't go back to the way it was."