Herald staff
MARYSVILLE – Students and educators at Marysville-Pilchuck High School today were in mourning for a 15-year-old student who was struck by a car early Tuesday and later died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Ariana Gallegos, 15, was a sophomore at the school.
“She had quite a close group of friends here,” principal Peggy Ellis said. “She was a leader in Spanish class. She also was a wonderful girl in her relationships with other people.”
No services were announced immediately. However the school has established a fund at Washington Mutual Bank to help the Gallegos family.
She had three young siblings, including a brother who also attends an elementary school in the Marysville School District.
She was proficient in Spanish partly because she was born in Mexico, Ellis said. The family has been in the Marysville area for about four years.
She frequently met with and had lunch with Staci Tuck, the head of the school’s world languages department. Ariana also helped take care of the children of adults learning to speak English in a program at the district’s Liberty Elementary School, Ellis said.
“She had a gift with helping young children,” Ellis added. “She was a beautiful girl with a beautiful spirit.”
City police arrested a 37-year-old woman late Tuesday afternoon in connection with hit-and-run driving in the incident.
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