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For transfer student, her first day was her last

Alexandra Smolin couldn't wait to start her junior year at Central Bucks South High School. Over the summer, the newcomer from Florida had contacted guidance counselor Michele McGroggan for help in selecting mostly college-prep courses.

Alexandra Smolin couldn't wait to start her junior year at Central Bucks South High School.

Over the summer, the newcomer from Florida had contacted guidance counselor Michele McGroggan for help in selecting mostly college-prep courses.

"She was looking forward to starting school at a new high school, and had a lot of questions for me about the school," McGroggan said.

Smolin's first day of school proved to be her last. Smolin, 16, died Wednesday when the car in which she was riding with two schoolmates crashed on Street Road in Warrington.

Smolin's death resonated yesterday with Central Bucks South students who had never even had a chance to meet her. Dressed in black to signify mourning, they laid flowers against a large rock on campus that read "R.I.P. Alex 9-2-2009," McGroggan said.

Principal W. Rodney Stone said trained counselors were available yesterday to meet with students at the school.

"We've had counselors go to each class" in which the three teens in the accident were enrolled, Stone said. A welcome-back assembly for the 11th grade was postponed, and the school paused for a moment of silence to mark Smolin's passing, he said.

By yesterday, 1,100 people, most Central Bucks South students and alums, had left messages on a Facebook.com page titled R.I.P. Alex Smolner. The misspelling underscored the fact that mourners hadn't yet learned her last name.

"You taught us all a valuable lesson today," wrote senior Cassi Modica, 17, of Chalfont. "Life is so fragile; everything I know and have can all be gone. It can be taken away in a split second. Because death doesn't care if you're 16. Death doesn't care if it's only your first day of a new high school."

Modica said in an interview that all she knew about Smolin was that she was a junior and from Florida.

McGroggan said she understood students were collecting funds for the Smolin family.

A police spokesman yesterday said it was "too soon" to speculate about a cause for the accident. The names of the driver and male passenger weren't released because of their ages.

Deputy Chief Richard H. Bradbury Sr. of the Warrington Township Police Department said the crash occurred at 2:44 p.m. Wednesday when a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt driven by a 17-year-old Warrington girl failed to negotiate a curve on Street Road near Honora Street. The spot is 11/2 miles from the school.

As the car veered off the roadway, the driver steered to the left, causing the car to spin counterclockwise and hit an embankment on the north side of the road, he said.

The car rolled over, struck a tree with its roof, and came to rest upright. The driver and a 16-year-old boy in the front seat were treated at Abington Memorial Hospital, Bradbury said.

Smolin, riding in the backseat, was pronounced dead at the scene by a deputy Bucks County coroner. An autopsy yesterday showed that Smolin died of multiple injuries, Coroner Joseph Campbell said.

"It's a horrendous tragedy," he said. "A young life is taken before they even have a chance to scratch the surface. This poor young woman was as innocent as could be, riding in the back, with her seat belt on.

"Her family is devastated. Not to mention the two other individuals in the car, who will have to live with this."

Campbell, whose own 16-year-old son is starting to drive, termed the accident "a parent's worst nightmare."

"I tell my son, 'You can't be safe enough,' and 'Keep your eyes open,' " Campbell said. "I tell my son, 'You don't appreciate how dangerous motor vehicles are; the laws of physics are not on your side.' "

Many of the Facebook messages welcomed Smolin, posthumously, to the ranks of the Titans, the school's mascot. School colors are blue and black.

Student Morgan Werner wrote to Smolin: "The one thing about C.B. South is we are family. It shows, too, because there are people, many people, that didn't even know you [who] are mourning your death.

"That's what titans do. And although you were only a titan for just one day, you will always and forever be a titan, and in our hearts."