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Plant High Student Dies 2 Years After Accident

News Channel 8 photo by ANTHONY ALLRED

Arielle Serrano’s twin, Alexis, and their mother, LeShea, reflect on Arielle’s life. “There’s another angel up there looking down on us, and she’s not in pain anymore,” LeShea Serrano said.

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By RICH SHOPES

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 22, 2008

TAMPA - Arielle Serrano, the Plant High School student hit by a car two years ago in front of the school, died Saturday. She was 17.

Serrano, had been undergoing physical and speech therapy at home in Odessa. She died at Town 'N Country Hospital, likely from an infection, a family spokeswoman said.

"Arielle was a great kid, very energetic, very loving," Plant High Principal Robert M. Nelson said Sunday. "The kids loved her. When the accident happened, they all rallied around her."

In March 2006, while taking a break from flag football practice, Serrano ran across South Dale Mabry Highway before the light changed and was struck by a white station wagon. She spent several months at Tampa General Hospital -- part of that time in a coma -- before being returned home to continue her therapy.

Serrano's father, Jose, left his job at the U.S. Postal Service after 22 years to take care of her full-time. Her mother, LeShea, continued teaching chemistry at Plant High.

"She fought to the end. She had the true heart of a champion, but her little body just gave out on her," LeShea Serrano said Sunday through Trina Rodriguez, a family friend. "I want to express my gratitude to the students, parents and community of Incarnation Catholic School and Plant High School for their hope, prayers and support.

"Arielle would want to be remembered as an inspiration to children because she loved her friends, school and family. She had a love for learning."

Serrano's accident and subsequent rehabilitation stirred an outpouring of support from Plant students, teachers and others in the community. A fundraiser last year brought in close to $75,000 for medical expenses. The organizers, mostly students and teachers, had expected to raise $10,000.

"She was always smiling, one of the brightest angels here on earth," said Maiken Stefany, a former Plant student who helped organize the fundraiser. "She would light up any room she walked in."

Eric Bergholm, Plant's principal when Serrano was a student there, described her as bright and hard-working.

"She was very focused and college-ready," he said. "Her sister's the same way."

Her identical twin, Alexis, will be a senior at Plant High this fall.

Serrano excelled in the sciences and had ambitions to be a dentist, said Rodriguez, an English teacher at Plant. Although studious, Serrano was, in many ways, like any other teenager.

Melissa Kalamaras, a recent Plant graduate who befriended Serrano, said she liked dancing and singing and was good at both. She was a member of the school's Danceros dance team, which performed during football games and other sporting events.

The two became friends during chorus class when Serrano was a freshman.

"She liked being with her friends and family and doing stuff that any teenager likes doing.

"She was very bubbly, very vibrant and had a very catchy smile," said Kalamaras, who will attend Auburn University in the fall. "She made you feel you were her best friend."

Along with her sister, Serrano would have been starting her senior year this fall.

Nelson, who learned Saturday of Serrano's death, knew she had been struggling but said the news caught him off-guard.

"Of course, you stop for a minute," he said. I have three small children, and my wife is due next month. It's kind of surreal. You just stop in your tracks.

"The staff was completely touched by Arielle. She was just so loving. She had a smile every time you saw her. She didn't have too many bad days when she wasn't smiling."

Serrano's funeral is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday at Incarnation Catholic Church, at the corner of Hillsborough Avenue and Webb Road. A procession to Myrtle Hill Memorial Park, at East Lake Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, will follow the ceremony.

The Serrano family will receive family and guests at Incarnation Catholic Church's St. Michael's Hall following the burial. The family will accept food donations from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at St. Michael's Hall.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or at rshopes@tampatrib.com.

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