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A community-wide candlelight vigil will take place at the Jonathan Law High School football field Monday at 7 p.m. to remember Maren Sanchez, the 16-year-old student stabbed and killed at school Friday.
Maren was a petite young woman with dark hair and big brown eyes, who is remembered for being happy and willing to help.
She was involved in school life at Jonathan Law High School, having served as her class president last year, and this year as a member of the National Honor Society and the drama club. She also managed a school sports team.
In the past few days, the community has come together to mourn her loss and to remember a young woman whom many said was exceptional. There have been vigils, condolences sent to school and family, events named in her honor, and flowers and gifts left beside a huge rock painted with her name outside Jonathan Law High School.
The day before Maren was stabbed and killed at her school, she had been working with the drama club, painting scenes and posters for this weekend’s play, “Little Shop of Horrors.”
“Some of us were going to stay late,” said Drama Club Advisor Michael Mele. “It was the night before the prom, and she said she had to leave to get her nails done.”
Mele said good-bye to her, but Maren said she would be coming back to help.
“She came back, and she was sitting there painting a billboard with her newly done nails,” Mele said. “She was happy, and she was talking about going to the prom and about her new boyfriend.”
Mele said Maren was always in a good mood and brightened up a room with her smile and energy.
She was one of those people that everyone liked, he said. She was a talented singer, she played the guitar, and she got involved in her school community.
“Little Shop of Horrors” will go on this weekend; Maren had been slated to operate the puppet plant in the show. The play, Mele said, will be dedicated to Maren.
Outreach
Andrew Spears just recently started as a permanent substitute at Law, and Maren was in his AP European history class.
She sat in the front row, and she helped him get accustomed to the classroom routines, letting him know how the teacher would manage certain situations and lessons.
It was all helpful advice, and Spears appreciated it.
Spears said Maren was working on boosting membership in one of the school’s clubs, and she was talking to him about that the day before she was killed.
“She was in my room and we were discussing ways to do outreach, to get people more involved,” Spears said. “She was so vibrant and so dedicated to the group, and she had great ideas.”
Another staff member said that Maren was one of those students who always said hello when she passed her in the hallway.
Taken too soon
Student Cori Kalafus said she was good friends with Maren.
“She was a beautiful, loving girl and will be missed dearly,” Cori said. “She was taken from us too quickly.”
Maren was stabbed at school Friday by a 16-year-old boy whom friends and reports on social media have said was angry that she would not go to the prom with him. The prom, scheduled for that evening, was postponed.
School Supt. Dr. Elizabeth Feser spoke during a press conference several hours after the stabbing, joined by a contingent of police and school officials.
She said the victim was “very, very well respected and liked.”
“She was a wonderful young woman,” Feser said.
Hundreds of students and parents attended a beach vigil and then a church vigil Friday night to mourn their friend.
Tonight’s vigil
People planning to attend tonight's vigil are asked to bring a candle, school officials said.
“The entire Milford community is welcome,” according to an announcement about the vigil.
“Since attendees will be standing on the football field for the memorial, individuals may bring a chair if they wish.”
Parking will be available in the regular parking lots located at Jonathan Law. Overflow parking has been designated for the following locations:
Liberty Rock Shopping Plaza (Kmart Plaza); 589 Bridgeport Avenue Tower Shopping Plaza (Tutor Time is located there); 454 Bridgeport Avenue.
The attacker
Chris Plaskon, the 16-year-old boy who allegedly stabbed Maren, was scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning on a murder charge, but his lawyer Richard Meehan said the boy would not be at the arraignment.
Plaskon is under a 15-day psychiatric evaluation.
A local attorney said that in such a case, the arraignment would likely take place, with the boy’s attorney representing him. Medical reports might be presented, and a new date likely set for the boy to be arraigned.