More than 400 students, parents, friends and staff attended a prayer service at St. Ursula Academy Saturday afternoon for Julia Schmidt, a junior killed Friday in a car accident in Anderson Township.

        They remembered the 16-year-old from Westwood with tears and laughter as students walked to the podium in the chapel individually and in clusters to offer personal remembrances.

Schmidt

        “I remember her as a girl who made us laugh,” said one student. “She is in God's arms now.”

        Miss Schmidt was a passenger in a car driven by classmate Katherine Moore, 16, of Anderson Township, when the one-car accident occurred along Woodruff Road in Anderson Township just before noon Friday.

        The Hamilton County Sheriff's Department said the car was heading east on Woodruff and had just crested a hill when Miss Moore lost control. The vehicle struck a utility pole and a sewage pumping unit before overturning.

        Miss Moore is in fair condition Saturday at University Hospital. Another passenger, Drew Armstrong, 17, of Columbia-Tusculum and a St. Ursula classmate, was treated and released from Mercy Hospital Anderson.

        The sheriff's department said neither alcohol nor drugs were factors in the accident. The crash remains under investigation. No charges have been filed.

        On Saturday, Miss Schmidt was remembered as a bright student with a sense of humor. Those in attendance filled the pews in the chapel of the school in East Walnut Hills, lined the walls inside and spilled out into the corridor.

        Students wore orange ribbons in honor of Miss Schmidt. Orange was her favorite color.

        Marianne Lang, associate director of external and alumnae relations at the all-girls' school with an enrollment of 671, said a telephone chain among parents, teachers and staff began Friday afternoon when they heard what happened.

        Ms. Lang said Miss Schmidt was an honors student and a member of the lacrosse team.

        “She was very popular, very well-liked, very vivacious,” Ms. Lang said.

        Friends and parents began arriving at the school at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, waiting quietly to file into the front doorway. One student carried a teddy bear with her, another a small bouquet of flowers. Once inside, several signed a huge card for Miss Schmidt.

        “Death and sorrow have called us together today,” said Frances Romweber, St. Ursula principal. “We are grappling with deep questions for which we have no earthly answers.”

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