Superintendent confirms Hunterdon Central student took her own life

RARITAN TOWNSHIP — Hunterdon Central Regional superintendent Jeff Moore confirmed in a letter to parents that a student who tried to take her own life last week has died.

Police and EMS crews responded on Tuesday for what Moore said was a "medical emergency" that led to sections of the school on Route 31 being closed off. She was taken to Hunterdon Regional Medical Center.

"It is with great sadness that I write to inform you that one of our students, Allison Vandal, passed away this afternoon. The cause of death was suicide," Moore wrote in an email to parents.

"Allison was a very talented sophomore who was deeply involved in our arts programs. She and her family have been the focus of our thoughts and prayers since Tuesday. The parents wish to thank the community for their ongoing support.

Moore said a statement will be read to students on Monday and counselors will be available. He did not disclose other information about the circumstances of her death.

Vandal was a co-winner in 2016 of the sixth annual Youth Holocaust and Genocide Awareness competition sponsored by Kidsbridge, the NJ State Commission on Holocaust Education and the Axelrod Foundation.

“We’ve never had two winners before. It was difficult for the judges to choose between the haunting words in Elias’ poem and Allison’s selfless deeds as described by her teacher. Both students deserved to be winners, so that’s what we did," Kidsbridge executive director Lynne Azarchi said of Allison's work.

In a post and video on the USC Shoah Foundation website in February Vandal wrote about how she and two friends used poetry and what she had learned from the Holocaust to deal with another girl's story of bullying.

"We both wanted to stand up against these acts of hatred towards our friends and we decided the best way for us to help was to write about it. Our teacher Ms. Bengels witnessed our acts of empathy and helped us create the Poets’ Undercover Guild (PUG), to invite students from our school to write about their own personal experiences as a way to express themselves," Vandal wrote.

Moore said that funeral arrangements had not yet been announced.

If you feel you or someone you know may be in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, 1-800-273-TALK, or the NJ Hopeline, 1-855-654-6735.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ.

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