Leader Staff
Leader Photo by Jason Arndt Students console each other alongside the roadside memorial on state Highway 22 in Belle Plaine where three high school students lost their lives Tuesday in a two-vehicle crash.
Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski A car passes by some flowers alongside state Highway 22 near Friendship Road, where a two-vehicle accident Tuesday took the lives of three area high school students.
Rumors of the accident spread quietly but quickly through the crowd at the Shawano Community High School volleyball match Tuesday night.
A few hours later, the rumors were replaced by official verification that three area students — two from Shawano and one from Bonduel — had been killed and another critically injured in a two-car crash in Belle Plaine.
Officials on Wednesday morning released the names of the teenagers involved.
Two SCHS seniors, 17-year-old Cody Borsche and 18-year-old Tyler Welch, were pronounced dead at the scene.
A Bonduel High School sophomore, 15-year-old Paige Brunette, was transported to Shawano Medical Center for medical attention and later died, the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department said.
Another Shawano student, 17-year-old Ryan Swadner, of Clintonville, is hospitalized in the Fox Valley. School district officials said Wednesday afternoon that he was in critical condition.
The mood at both high schools Wednesday was understandably solemn.
“Shawano is small enough that everybody knows everybody,” District Superintendent Gary Cumberland said. “They had lots of friends, which makes this hard. It was a trying time today.”
The teens were in a Ford Mustang being driven by Swadner. The investigation so far indicates the vehicle was northbound on state Highway 22 near Friendship Road and swerved to avoid a vehicle stopped to make a left turn into a driveway.
The driver of the vehicle that had been stopped and waiting to turn left told authorities he had seen a car in his rear-view mirror approaching at a high rate of speed, according the Sheriff’s Department.
Swadner lost control of the car on the gravel shoulder. The Mustang then crossed into the path of an oncoming sport utility vehicle and was hit broadside, the Sheriff’s Department said.
The driver of the SUV, Duane Jarvais, 28, of Bear Creek, sustained non-life threatening injuries, according to authorities.
The accident, which is still under investigation, occurred about 5:20 p.m.
Bonduel School District Superintendent Patrick Rau said he was informed of the accident about 9 p.m. Tuesday and assembled the school’s crisis team. The district also enlisted the assistance of counselors from Gillett, Marion and Pulaski.
“Our students have been taking advantage of the opportunity to see a grief counselor and it has been well used,” Rau said. “We will provide all of the support that we can. …
“The best way to get through times like this is with other people, whether it is friends, family, other counselors or adults that have relationships with the kids.”
Counselors also were available at SCHS to help students through the grieving process.
“The kids are seeking out help, going down to the counselors,” Cumberland said.