"This student was both academically strong and personally vibrant," he said at a news conference. "We hold the student's loved ones in our hearts and minds." She had been accepted into nanotechnology engineering, a highly competitive program.

The university monitors severe weather and warns students on social media if weather is going to disrupt campus events. The school did not issue a warning before Friday's sudden storm.

"The storm came on so fast," said Chris Read, UW's associate provost, students. "And it didn't last very long. It is really sad what happened."

The storm rattled windows and awakened Yaritssa Rodriguez, 17, a first-year student living in a nearby residence.

"It was really loud. The room shook. I've never been that close to lightning," said Aaron Fritz, 18, an engineering student. He was in his residence room when the storm hit and was devastated to learn someone had been killed.

"My heart was thumping," Fritz said. "Just like that, your life can end. It's scary."

UW plans to review safety procedures when a full report is completed. The university dismissed any connection to a routine fire drill that sent people streaming out of campus buildings shortly before the thunderstorm.

"It was a completely different part of the campus, miles apart from where the incident took place. There's no linkage between this unfortunate accident and the fire drills," Hamdullahpur said.

The university said the last fire drill had people returning to campus buildings at 8:43 a.m. The victim died shortly after 9 a.m. Fire drills, common during orientation week, were halted when lightning started.

Grief counselling is being made available to students. It's believed some students witnessed the fatal lightning strike.

"A lot of students are shocked and taken aback and we are doing everything to support them," Read said.

After hearing about the lightning strike, Waterloo resident Wendy Wang rushed to campus to check on her 18-year-old son Timy Wu, an engineering student living in residence. "I was so scared," she said, in tears.

Roger Soucy was at the campus to help his student son Nick, 19, move into an apartment.

"How can you reason this? How can you process this?" said Soucy, who is from Newfoundland. "She hadn't even been to class yet. She was on the beginning of a new adventure. It's so random."

lmonteiro@therecord.com ; gpaul@therecord.com ; jouthit@therecord.com