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Edgemont Remembers Lauren Spierer, Talks Safety

EDGEMONT, N.Y. – Devastating. Heartbreaking. Unimaginable.

Pick an adjective but for friends and classmates of missing Edgemont High School graduate Lauren Spierer, the message is the same.

“My heart breaks for her family,” Edgemont mother Donna Klein said Wednesday at the Lauren Spierer Campus Safety Event. “I just can’t imagine what they are going through.”

Four days shy of the one-year anniversary of Spierer’s disappearance, dozens of students and parents gathered for a somber lesson on self-defense and safety at Edgemont High School.

Inside the LGI room, Greenburgh Detective Nicholas Parikka talked about using caution in a college campus setting while instructors from the Long Island’s Modern Warrior gave a brief how-to on self-defense techniques.

Outside, volunteers passed out blue bracelets inscribed with the words “Find Lauren” and collected donations for the Find Lauren Fund. Many of the Edgemont seniors said they felt they had a responsibility to raise awareness about their missing classmate.

“We were the last class to go to school with Lauren,” said Julie Abraham, organizer of the event.  “We wanted to show her family we are still supporting them.”

On June 3, 2011, Spierer, a 2009 Edgemont High School graduate, went missing after a night out with friends in Bloomington, In., where she was a student at Indiana University.  Today, many questions surrounding the disappearance of the then-20-year-old Spierer remain unanswered, leaving the tight-knit community left to wonder.

“It consumes conversations,” Abraham said. “We want desperately to know what happened.”

Many students and parents said Wednesday that the last year has been a trying time for the entire Edgemont district.

“The community has been trying to get involved and just stay as hopeful as possible,” said senior Hannah Brock.

Abraham, who will attend Tulane University in Louisiana in the fall, said Spierer’s disappearance has raised awareness among the graduating seniors.

“It’s changed the way you look at going to college and leaving Edgemont,” she said. “We are more aware of things we never thought about before.”

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