Wonderful and caring is how the family of a recent Drexel University graduate killed in the Germanwings airliner crash in Southern France on Monday describe the young woman.

Emily Selke and her mother, Yvonne, were onboard flight 4U9525 when it rapidly descended from cruising altitude and crashed into a mountainside in the French Alps, officials and the family confirm.

"Two wonderful, caring, amazing people who meant so much to so many. At this difficult time we respectfully ask for privacy and your prayers," the family said in a statement.

University officials tell NBC10 Emily was a 2013 graduate who majored in Music Industry at the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design. She wrote for the student-run music site, The Correspondence, and was a member of the Delta Epsilon Iota honors society and the Zeta chapter of Gamma Sigma Sigma sorority.

Emily was credited with helping to rebuild the Zeta chapter after being initiated in 2011. She later rose to become Membership Vice President. In a tweet, the sorority said they were mourning the loss of their sister.

A Girl Scout, Emily received the A.J. Drexel Scholarship in 2010, according to her public LinkedIn profile. Most recently, she worked as a Community Manager at Carr Workplaces in Alexandria, Virginia.

"She was dedicated, helpful, and always willing to go the extra mile, especially when it came to her passion for hospitality and event planning," the employer said in a statement. "Her genuine, bright smile and quick wit will be missed."

Both women are from Nokesville, Virginia. Yvonne worked as a defense contractor for the Pentagon's satellite mapping office, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a person close to the family told The Associated Press.

Emily's high school friend Taylor Miller also spoke with NBC10.

"She wanted the best for everybody and she made everybody feel important," Miller said. "And I think that's why everybody loved her because she made you feel important. That's hard to find in people these days."

The Germanwings Airbus A320 was an hour into its flight from Barcelona, Spain to Düsseldorf, Germany when it began an eight minute long decent from 38,000 feet. French aviation officials said the plane was traveling at 430 mph when it slammed into the mountains between Barcelonnette and Digne, France.

The impact was so severe that no intact pieces of the jet were left. All 150 people onboard — 144 passengers and six crew members — were killed. The Selkes were two of three Americans on the flight. The identity of the third U.S. passenger has not been released by government officials.

The director of France's aviation investigation agency said it could take weeks to analyze the data from one of the plane's voice recorders that had been recovered.

Wednesday night, the New York Times reported that evidence from the plane's cockpit recorder indicates one of the pilots in the jet left the cockpit and couldn't return before the plane went down.

