Twenty-three college students had plans to spend their spring breaks building houses for the needy, but instead they were part of a van crash that left one of them dead.
The crash left the group of students, who were planning to participate in the Habitat for Humanity International alternate spring break program, stranded in Knoxville Sunday afternoon with four injured, one dead and a canceled trip.
The group was traveling to Johns Island, S.C., for a full week of volunteering with the Sea Island Habitat for Humanity organization.
Lawrence University sophomore Alissa Thompson, 19, of Wisconsin was one of the seven students traveling in the van. She died when the van flipped over on the Woodland Avenue exit off Interstate 275 after hitting a guardrail. The van was traveling in the far-right “exit only” lane and was unable to veer left in time to avoid driving into the Woodland Avenue exit.
Four students were transported to St. Mary’s Medical Center after the accident, where they were treated for minor injuries and later released.
No one was ejected from the vehicle, and everyone except for Thompson was wearing both lap and shoulder belts. Thompson was only wearing a lap belt at the time of the crash.
The van’s airbags did not deploy. However, according to police, this wasn’t unusual since airbags do not usually deploy during a rollover.
KPD Chaplain Glenda Bridges was called to the scene to offer counseling for the students and also contacted Johnson Bible College to arrange housing arrangements for the night. Counseling services are also being provided through Lawrence University for anyone seeking personal support.
Thompson was studying biology and German and was also a member of the Biology Club. A memorial service will be held in her honor this Friday, March 28, in Mayville, Wisconsin.
Lawrence’s campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity has been organizing community-service-oriented spring break trips for more than 10 years. Thompson’s group of 23 was on its way to participate in a program that seeks to build a 70-home subdivision called Sea Island Place.
