Last weekend St. Louis Park residents received an email asking that they place black, orange, or purple balloons on their windowsills in remembrance of St. Louis Park High School freshman Carly Christenson who passed away from influenza complications, leaving a hole in the hearts of students at both St. Louis Park High School and Benilde-St.Margaret’s. Word spread throughout the community, and the balloons popped up everywhere, from a bridge over Highway 7 to BSM’s electronic billboard.

Carly was best known at BSM for her participation in the summer basketball program where her personality made her a great teammate. BSM senior Tara Fan was shocked to hear about her death, as she had grown very close to Carly after playing with her for the past two years. “She was just one of those people who you can never and will never forget because you couldn’t help but have fun with her,” Fan said.

In order to support Carly as well as St. Louis Park High School, BSM wore orange and black on Friday, January 12. Student council also organized a card, which was sent to St. Louis Park High School along with pictures of BSM students in their orange and black. “A lot of people at BSM knew her personally, so we thought a big card that the whole school was involved in would show them that people do care,” said Grace Coughlin, a BSM junior and student council member.

Amongst the other communities coming together, Westwood Lutheran Church, where the Christenson family has been members for years, changed their Wednesday night service on January 8 to a prayer service in remembrance of Carly. The service was packed with all the people whose lives she touched and who miss her on a daily basis.

But from this tragedy, much light and hope has been spread through all the communities Carly touched. “The response shows how much people loved her. Sometimes it takes a bad thing to help us realize what a good thing [a friendship] truly was,” said Meron Abraham, a BSM sophomore who befriended Carly in middle school.