WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Manning students return to cope with fellow student's loss

Manning students return to cope with fellow student's loss

By Jack Kuenzie - bio | email

MANNING, SC (WIS) - Laurence Manning Academy has reopened after workers there disinfected the school when over 260 people got sick last week.

Then, the school was dealt another blow when student Ashlie Pipkin died after suffering from what her family said could have been both flu and pneumonia.

Despite having to deal with the grief, life went on at the school Monday.

"We didn't have but about 16 children I think in our middle school absent in comparison to over 130 last week," said Headmaster Spencer Jordan. "And in our high school, we had only 21 absent in comparison to about 70 or 80 at that end last week. So we have seen a dramatic decrease in the overall number of absenteeism."

There's no official finding that the kids had swine flu.

"We have had parents call us and tell us that their child was diagnosed by their local physician, with what they considered to be H1N1, but no formal diagnosis as far as going to the CDC or DHEC," said Jordan.

As the students returned, many were also trying to recover from the sorrow of losing their classmate Pipkin.

Pipkin got sick about a week ago and that illness progressed to pneumonia, putting the normally athletic girl in the hospital.

She died in an ambulance en-route to Columbia.

On Monday, near one of her classrooms, Ashlie's fellow students were comforted by a wall-sized sympathy note from students at Thomas Sumter Academy in Rembert.

Manning had two dozen counselors on hand, but many students seemed to be coping pretty well.

"The kids have been celebrating a good life, so there wasn't a lot of fixing," said Pastor Arthur Sharpe. "There was a lot of, 'Wow, what a great classmate she was. What a great ballplayer she was.'"

Social worker Michelle Newman understands what the kids go through, but stressed the need for them to cope with Pipkin's death in order to move on.

"Life is the unknown, and we need to, as the cliché says, take time to smell the roses," said Newman. "Spend time and enjoy today for what it has to offer us. Because none of us are ever promised tomorrow."

Inside, near her desk, Ashlie's classmates wrote their own messages. Among them were lyrics to her favorite song.

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