Plans to offer the first dance at Marysville Alternative High School are on hold. Organizer Shiann Sanchez won’t be able to attend school for several months.
The 17-year-old student at Marysville Alternative High School lost her right leg and hip in a Jan. 25 snowmobile accident near Snoqualmie Pass.
Monday, she was in intensive care at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Her mother said she is expected to be hospitalized for four months.
Shiann’s latest in a string of projects is on hold. The student body president was helping plan the school’s first dance, first set for March 12. She hoped to dance the night away in the arms of her boyfriend, Garren Stewart, 18, who also attends the alternative school.
The dance has been delayed, though many in the community, such as disc jockeys, want to volunteer their services to honor Shiann.
Hopefully, after rehabilitation, she will be upright on crutches or with the support of a walker, her mother said. Tina Fryberg of Marysville was with her daughter at a family outing when Shiann took her turn driving a snowmobile.
Fryberg said her daughter hit a small hill, was thrown off the machine and tumbled into a tree. Taken by sleigh to an ambulance, she was airlifted to Harborview.
"She doesn’t want anybody to get down," Fryberg said. "She is not going to let this get her down."
Students at her school have not been able to visit their friend. But their thoughts are still with her.
Priscilla Walker, 18, said Shiann is president of the leadership club. "She is probably the most motivated person I’ve met in my life," Walker said. "She has really turned her life around."
As Walker said, students at alternative high schools aren’t bad people. There are a variety of reasons why someone might not fit at a traditional campus.
"We have pride in our school," Walker said. "The teachers are awesome."
Walker became friends with Shiann when they chatted about a family problem Shiann had. The young women talked for hours, Walker said. They went to a church retreat together, and Walker said Shiann made an impression on religious leaders.
It would take five students to take over Shiann’s school projects, Walker said.
"It’s amazing, the wide variety of people she has met and had an impact on in her life," Walker said, describing her as gentle, kind to everybody and somebody who gets along with anyone. "She gives everybody a fair chance."
School Principal Dawn Bechtholdt said whenever Shiann saw something needed to be done, she did it.
"She was our student body representative to the school board for two years," Bechtholdt said. "She was really well-received by the school board and the community."
Bechtholdt said when she came to the school two years ago, she saw an outburst of anger from Shiann.
"She was one of those kids who was in trouble, had anger issues, who challenged everybody, striving for independence," Bechtholdt said. "As she matured, it hit her that she had to be a different way. She was a natural leader."
Shiann stopped being part of the problem and began being part of the solution, Bechtholdt said.
David Fryberg Jr. of Marysville, Shiann’s stepfather for seven years, said she’s proud of her American Indian heritage and works with tribal elders.
His parents, David Sr. and Cheryl Fryberg, are frequent visitors at the hospital.
"She wanted to climb Mount Everest with her grandpa," David Fryberg said. "She is a strong, humble person. She applied our culture in her regular dealings — accept everyone for who they are."
The Frybergs want to tell her friends at school that she’s thinking about them, they said.
"She is so considerate of everyone," Tina Fryberg said. "She puts her family ahead of herself."
Her mother said Shiann feels the accident is one more stepping stone. But it looks like she has the support, and the spirit, to make that move.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or
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