HIALEAH, Fla. – Students at Hialeah High School returned to campus Monday with heavy hearts as they remember a classmate who was killed in a New Year's Day crash.
Some students came to school sporting shirts with an image of Christopher Leyva wearing angel wings.
Leyva, 19, was one of four teenagers who had just left a party when their car veered off Jacaranda Lane and plunged into Lake Martha in Miami Lakes.
Leyva's mother said her son escaped from the wreckage but went back into the water to try to save a 15-year-old passenger who was trapped in the submerged car. Leyva didn't reemerge.
Two other teens were able to get out of the car unharmed. Dezirea Joseph, whom Leyva tried to save, remains at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
"It's going to be hard to move on, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be within our hearts," Hialeah High School junior Kevin Paredes said.
Leyva's funeral was held Saturday.
Students said the school was planning to mention Leyva during the morning announcements.