‘We’re all stunned’

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Faculty and students from two of the region's school districts were coping Wednesday with the sudden loss of a Flinton teen who was expected to graduate this week.

Counselors were staffed at Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center and in Glendale School District, where 18-year-old Katie Flick was a senior preparing to receive her diploma Friday.

Flick died Tuesday in an all-terrain vehicle accident near Flinton - "a sudden blow" to two campuses where students were wrapping up school and seniors were looking forward to graduation, faculty said.

"We're all stunned," said Della Gens, Flick's health occupation instructor at GACTC for the past four years. "It's obviously a really tough afternoon here. No one was ready for her to go."

"She was a good student," added Glendale High School Principal Gary Walstrom. "In a school our size, when you're going to graduate 64 students, it's hard on everyone. We're a community here."

Walstrom said Flick was set to join her classmates Friday as part of Glendale's Class of 2009 commencement.

She also was one of about 50 "close-knit" tech center students who traveled to and from the school together daily.

"For this to happen two days before graduation, it makes it even harder on everyone, I think," said Walstrom, who said he met with Flick's family Wednesday. "There's always mixed feelings among students at graduation anyway, and I'm sure this will bring a different mood to the event Friday."

He said Flick was a member of the Students Against Drunk Driving at Glendale. At GACTC, she was a National Technical Honor Society student.

Gens said Flick had plans to become a nurse and was set to join the school's practical nursing program in the fall.

"She was so excited to graduate but she had mixed feelings about leaving because she'd been here four years," Gens added. "But Katie was a great student."

For many students at GACTC, it's the second blow in two months. Gens said many in the school were still dealing with the loss of 19-year-old Scott Garlick, a Hollidaysburg student who was shot to death in Altoona in April.

Investigators say Flick was riding the vehicle with her boyfriend when they lost control about a half-mile off Route 53 between Ashville and Dysart.

The ATV fell on Flick, who was taken to Altoona Regional Trauma Center and pronounced dead of blunt force trauma at 7 p.m.

Plans for memorial services are incomplete.

Mirror Staff Writer David Hurst is at 946-7457.