PARKLAND, Fla. – Alyssa Miriam Alhadeff, who was a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and dreamed of becoming a doctor, died in a school shooting Wednesday in Parkland. She was 14.
The slain honors student loved soccer. She wore the number eight jersey for the Parkland Travel Soccer team, and she played on the varsity team. Her friends and family remembered her last soccer game. The attacking midfielder jumped over a defender heading the ball.
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"Alyssa was a talented soccer player, so smart, an amazing personality and incredibly creative writer, and all she had to offer the world was love," Lori Alhadeff, her mother, said during the funeral service. "She believed in people for being so honest."
Alyssa was in the school's debate team and volunteered regularly at the Chabad of Parkland. She was born in Queens, New York, and she was a regular Union for Reform Judaism summer camper in Georgia. Her friends remember her as caring and persistent.
Her service was Friday at the Star of David Memorial Gardens Cemetery and Funeral Chapel in North Lauderdale. She was the first of the 17 victims to be buried.
