When Glencoe junior Sarai Aguazul passed away last week — four days before her 21st birthday — in a head-on collision car accident, she left a lasting legacy of love through Christ and friendship.

Madisonville senior Brandi Cain, who studied biology with Aguazul, remembers her as someone who treated everybody the same. Cain said Aguazul didn’t think low of anyone, and she was a friend and classmate people could always depend on.

“She had goals and ambitions like the rest of us,” she said. “She wanted to graduate from here and go to dental school.”

Cain said she was shocked when she heard what happened to her friend of three years and questioned what Aguazul could have done to deserve it.

“I can’t think of a negative thing about her,” she said. “Sometimes people leave behind memories. I guess that’s our whole goal in life — not to live forever but to leave something behind that will.”

Aguazul’s discipleship mentor Sarah Edmundson, a part-time campus minister for Campus Crusade for Christ, said Aguazul was a shy woman who was just coming out of her shell. She had goals of being a more bold and outgoing person who was very involved in CRU, Edmunson said.

“(At) our first meeting for discipleship we talked about assurance of salvation, and I’m just thankful that I know she was saved and she knew,” Edmunson said. “One of the big things we talked about was being filled by the Holy Spirit and having God in our life.”

Aguazul’s desire was to have every aspect of her life surrendered to God and in his control, Edmundson said.

“She was eager to grow,” she said. “It’s just so hard because she didn’t get to reach her goals.”

Aguazul touched the lives of her roommate, Leitchfield sophomore Annie Langley, and Leitchfield sophomore Natalie Cubbage, who lived down the hall.

“She was just a blessing to be around,” Langley said. “She really loved the Lord, and you could tell through the way she lived.”

Along with being a part of CRU on the Hill, they said she was a leader in her church’s Tambourine Dance Praise Team.

“She was really excited about it, and around Easter time she would get really excited because they had a big event at her church,” Langley said.

Cubbage met Aguazul through Langley and quickly became friends.

“We would go out a lot, and we would also work out together and watch a lot of TV and movies together,” she said.

The two girls are sending sympathy cards to express their condolences to Aguazul’s family, who couldn’t be reached for this story. Aguazul understood that everybody had issues, and she was always there to pray for everyone, they said.

Langley said every Wednesday, they’d watch American Horror Story at 9 p.m. and then again at 10 p.m. — one of her fondest memories of Aguazul.

“I never dreamed that I would get a call that she was gone,” she said. “You take people for granted.”

The girls said their Bible study group has been supportive of them, although the group is heartbroken as well.

Edmundson remembers the last time she saw Aguazul, before Thanksgiving break.

“When I dropped her off on Wednesday at her dorm and I was telling her to have a good break, she just reached across the seat and gave me the biggest hug,” she said with tears in her eyes. “It was very special.”