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“We don’t even know what happened. It was a split second,” said Chelsi, 22. “It was the worst split second of my family’s life.”

Now, Emily is being remembered as a bright, engaging Grade 9 student and voracious reader who dreamed of becoming a nurse. She kept her book collection in pristine condition and was careful about who she would allow to borrow them, Chelsi recalled with a chuckle.

“She hated cracked spines and she hated people who dog-eared their pages,” she said.

But she was also confident and outgoing, even boisterous, and she loved to sing and draw. She recently performed in her high school’s rendition of “Emma! A Pop Musical,” a play adapted from the Jane Austen novel.

Kevin Bergen, principal of Fort McMurray Composite High School, said he drove past the tractor trailer that Emily’s SUV later crashed into. When he heard about the accident, he said he felt “absolute shock and sadness.”

“She was always smiling. That’s why I use the word ‘engaging,’ because you always had a sense that she was present at the moment you were interacting with her,” he said.

Emily was a triplet, with brother Lucas and sister Abby. She wanted to learn as much as possible about aboriginal cultures so she could work as a nurse in First Nations communities in northern Alberta, said Bergen.

“We had such high hopes and dreams for the triplets as they matured,” he said. “Unfortunately, she was taken so young and well before she was able to reach her full potential.”