24 locals vie for Terrebonne’s Teenager of the Year Award
January 8, 2013Set aside pettiness, focus on progress
January 8, 2013
Vandebilt Catholic High School students returned Monday from the holiday season with heavy hearts, knowing that they would be one student less as they walked the halls for the remainder of the school year.
“We’re doing all right, but it’s very hard,” said Principal James Reiss following the school’s memorial service for freshman student Courtney Nicole Drury. “This is the third year in a row we have lost a student. I’ve been in education for 20 years, and things like this are very hard. I have young children of my own, and it’s not easy to cope.”
Drury, 14, a member of the school’s junior varsity dance team, died New Year’s Eve after suffering a brain aneurysm.
“Some of our younger students, this is their first time going through the loss of a school mate,” Reiss said. “This is affecting both our freshman and senior class because her older sister is a senior.”
The school’s 950 students and faculty joined community members and Drury’s parents, David Drury and Beth Daanen Drury, sister Ashley and brother Brady gathered in the school’s Brother Alfred Kolb Center for a mass in honor of the teen who loved animals so much that memorial donations made in her name will help fund the construction of the Terrebonne Parish Animal Shelter.
“We must honor and celebrate Courtney’s life,” said the Rev. Jerry Daniels. “Some of you are mourning a classmate. Some are just trying to get back into the swing of school. Acknowledge whatever you are feeling to Jesus.”
Daniels reflected on a moment during Drury’s funeral when he noted handprints on the young girl’s casket.
“Courtney left her handprints on all of our hearts,” Daniels said. “Some knew Courtney as a dancer. Some new her as a classmate. She was a beautiful girl and part of the Vandebilt community.”
“I want to thank those in the community for their thoughts and prayers,” Reiss said, fighting back tears at the close of the service. “The Drury family was not obligated to be here, but they are. Thank you for being here.”
Vandebilt Catholic High School studentS pray during a memorial service for Courtney Drury, a freshman student and junior varsity dancer who passed away during the Christmas holidays. Friends, family members and fellow students gathered at the event on Monday.
