Students find some laughter as grieving continues in Bathurst

Artwork, webpage creation, videos and pickup basketball games mingled with tears and hugs as classes resumed at a Bathurst, N.B., high school Monday following a road accident that killed seven students and a teacher.

"Some life and some hope is returning to Bathurst High School," said school board Supt. John McLaughlin. "At the end of the morning, I'm happy to tell you that there is laughter again in the classrooms."

The small community has been in shock since the crash early Saturday as the students, all members of the boys' basketball team, were returning from a game in Moncton.

Seven members of the team and the wife of the team's coach were killed when their 15-seat Ford Club Wagon van fish-tailed and slammed head-on into a transport truck on an icy road.

The accident happened on a straight stretch of road only minutes from Bathurst, where the teens' parents were waiting to pick them up at a local fast-food restaurant.

Five of those who died — Nathan Cleland, Justin Cormier, Daniel Hains, Javier Acevedo and Codey Branch — were 17 years old. The other two students were Nickolas Quinn, 16, and Nicholas Kelly, 15.

The eighth victim was Elizabeth Lord, 51, a teacher at an elementary school known for her love of music. Her husband, Wayne Lord, the team's coach and the driver of the van, was among four survivors.

Lord was treated and released from hospital early Saturday. One of the two players left injured has also been discharged. The other player, who was in intensive care, has now been tranferred to the Saint John Regional Hospital.

Since being released, Lord has been spending most of his time at the hospital with his daughter, who was also injured in the crash, said Bathurst Mayor Stephen Brunet.

"He's standing tall right now for his daughter. He's standing tall for all of those around him. At some point, he's going to need all of us to lean on," said Brunet, who is a former teacher at the high school.

Counsellors available for students, staff

Students and staff are beginning to take the first difficult steps in the grieving process, said high school principal Coleen Ramsay.

Ramsay said she has already met with all the survivors and the families of the young victims.

The school is open for anyone who wants to attend, said McLaughlin. Psychologists and 30 counsellors will remain at the school throughout the week.

Efforts are being made to establish some sort of normal routine for the mourning students, McLaughlin said.

"It's a logical step to recreate some order in the school," he said.

"If students want to be in class, if teachers are able to be in class with their students, then that is where they will be able to be," said McLaughlin. "But for a lot of people, they will just need to be in the school."

McLaughlin spent the weekend at the school with grieving students and teachers.

"They've been here, they've been grieving, they've been supporting each other," he said.

A public wake is planned for Tuesday, and there's a public funeral on Wednesday at 2 p.m. AT at the local arena, the town's largest facility. The community is asking that attendees wear red, the school's colour.

Matthew Nini, a Grade 12 student, said it has been difficult to cope.

"Everyone has taken it very, very hard. And it's difficult, but we've all pulled together," he said.

"It goes to show that in a town this size … there is a familial aspect, especially in the school, and we've all pulled together like we're one big family."

Memorials throughout town

On Saturday, the soccer team that Quinn, Kelly and Acevedo also played on paid tribute to the boys at a local tournament.

Pictures of the lost teammates were displayed at the indoor soccer facility in Nigadoo, near Bathurst, during the tournament, said Gaetan Boudreau, who has coached the boys for the past five years.

The team members wore a black stripe on their arms to pay tribute to the victims and after each scored goal the players pointed their fingers skyward, said Boudreau.

"They were putting their fingers in the air, like trying to communicate something with heaven," he said.

The boys were not just dedicated to sport but to each other as a team, said Boudreau.

Makeshift memorials of flowers and candles are continuing to appear around town and at the high school, while a steady stream of cars was spotted driving by the site of the accident on the highway, which leads into the city.

Brunet said it is too early to make plans for a permanent memorial but it is not out of the question.

"Once we get the families through this, then we'll gather with them and we can put our heads together and find out what we're going to do," he said.

A local man has offered to plant seven young oak trees in the town in honour of the basketball players, Brunet said. Donations toward a memorial fund have also been pouring in.

"It's just continuous, with people wanting to donate money to a fund," he said. "We'll never lose the memory of these young men and the teacher as well."

The Moncton High School Purple Knights will wear the logo of their competitors for the remaining three weeks of the basketball season and all next season, said coach Andrew MacPherson.

The NBA's Toronto Raptors delayed the start of their game Sunday to observe a minute of silence for the victims of the crash.

Loss expected to impact school's sports

Many at the school are speculating that its senior varsity basketball team will not be able to continue this season.

Only a handful of the players are left, including three students who did not go to the match in Moncton because of illness.

"Sports teams are an incredibly important part of many students' lives," said Neil Carrington, a volunteer coach with the school's rugby team.

"It's a good source of character-building and I can only hope that they will continue as normal with the rest of the teams for the balance of the year."

But the loss of the players at the 700-student school is also expected to be felt by other teams.

When athletes show promise in one sport, they are often poached by other coaches to participate on other teams, Carrington said.

Carrington was in the process of trying to encourage some of the lost basketball players to take up rugby in the spring.

Transportation policy to be reviewed

Travelling in the winter with school sports teams is part of high school life, said McLaughlin, but the school board will review its winter transportation policies in light of this tragedy.

The Department of Education may also be conducting its own review of policy regarding travel for extra-curricular activities, said Minister Kelly Lamrock.

"I think any time you have something happen that has an unacceptable result, you review," Lamrock told CBC News. "But at this point in time, you also need facts."

Experts will be brought in to conduct the investigation, Lamrock said, and after the factors that caused the crash are determined the government will move forward.

"Then our job is to learn from that and now knowing the factors that led to this result, see if there's anything in terms of policy or resources that would've changed the outcome."