Families and friends say farewell to four students
Cami Hernandez
Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: News
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Richard Kim, 21, Kevin Na, 19, Daniel Kim, 18, all attended Mt. SAC, and David Chung, 16, was a Walnut High School student. The funeral services, held in both English and Korean, began at 8 p.m. at Southlands Church International in Walnut.
Every seat of the church's gymnasium was occupied and many people even stood. During the emotional two-hour service, people from different backgrounds and ages gathered to offer a prayer for the victims and their families. Vice President of Student Services Audrey Yamagata-Noji was one of the people who spoke at the funeral, expressing her condolences on behalf of the Mt. SAC community.
Many former and current students, as well as teachers from Walnut High School, attended the funeral to say their last goodbyes to the victims.
Breanna Zuniga, 20, was one of the students who attended Walnut High School with Daniel Kim. She tearfully spoke as she recalled a few memories of Kim.
"He was just a very nice guy, he would always help other people," Zuniga said.
She added that he was very polite and was always looking out for his classmates.
Corolar White, who was Kim's ESL teacher at Walnut High School, also attended the funeral.
"He was absolutely amazing," White said. "He really worked hard on every single assignment. He was personable, very likeable, always polite. When he knew he was going to miss a test he would always make sure to make it up. I am really going to miss him."
A tribute slideshow was presented to the congregation, with photos and videos of the four students singing, playing guitar and praying at Walnut Blessing Church.
Associated Students presented the families with a memorial, where hundreds of Mt. SAC students wrote messages for the victims.
Estela Guerra, 19, collected signatures and messages for the students.
"We had some students come by that actually knew them," Guerra said.
ESL registration clerk, Maribel Gonzales, 24, said she was very sad when she heard that one of the ESL students had lost his life.
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