Two high school seniors have died in a crash in Peru just a week after graduating from high school.
Zachary Morris and Albert Ales, both 18, had only been in Peru for a few hours when they were hit and killed by a bus.
The Florida natives, who had gone to Cusco to celebrate their recent graduation, were exploring the city on a motorcycle when they were struck on Friday.
High school seniors Albert Ales (left) and Zachary Morris (right), both 18, were tragically killed on their graduation trip to Peru just a week after earning their degrees
The Florida natives had gone to Cusco to celebrate their recent graduation, and had been exploring the city on a motorcycle when they were struck on Friday. Pictured is a Snapchat they took before the accident
They were rushed to a local hospital, where they later died from their injuries.
Morris and Ales’ sudden deaths have shocked their community at Southeast High School in Bradenton.
The best friends both had bright futures ahead after graduating from their school’s tough International Baccalaureate program.
Morris was heading to Yale University in the fall while Ales planned to attend the University of Central Florida.
‘They were bigger than life,’ Richard Platt, the applied engineering teacher at Southeast High, told WTVT.
The best friends both had bright futures ahead after graduating from their school’s tough International Baccalaureate program. Pictured is Ales on his graduation day
Morris (left) was heading to Yale University in the fall while Ales (right) planned to attend the University of Central Florida
‘They were those kids that made everyone feel better when they were around. They completely changed the direction of where I teach engineering now and where I’m going with it until I retire.’
‘When you have two students that made such an impact on our community and such an impact on our school… it’s completely devastating,’ he added.
Together Ales and Morris helped their teachers build machines that could mass produce wooden toy cars for underprivileged children around the world.
‘They picked up the phone one day and called Google,’ recalled Platt. ‘And got one of the top vice presidents at Google and they wrote us a check for $16,000 dollars.’
‘These young men, they exemplified the best in what our school can produce and what our state can produce,’ he added. ‘They were the best. Not only is it a great loss for us, it’s a great loss to our country.’
Together Ales and Morris helped their teachers build machines that could mass produce wooden toy cars for underprivileged children around the world
Their best friends John Ferguson and Anthony Sevarino said the teens were known for their incredible personalities as well.
‘They lit up any room that they were in,’ Ferguson told WFLA. ‘I mean, come on, the charisma that they came in, the confidence that they had, was incredible.’
‘Albert was the guy that, if you had a problem, he was going to fix it,’ added Seravino.
‘Zach is just the smartest guy you would ever see. He was so confident in his speaking. Both of them are really the reason I am molded into the person I am today.’
Southeast High School has asked that students, teachers, and administrators to wear orange or a Hawaiian shirt to pay tribute to the teens on Tuesday.
Southeast High School has asked that students, teachers, and administrators wear orange or a Hawaiian shirt to pay tribute to the teens on Tuesday
‘Even if you didn’t have the pleasure of knowing them or getting close to them, it would mean a lot to their friends in the graduated class and those students still at SEHS to show the love and support,’ the school said in a statement on Sunday.
‘In the meantime, please just try and think of all the good and happy memories of those two boys living their lives to the fullest.’
Ferguson said he also plans to honor his two best friends by being ‘just like them’.
‘The confidence they carried, the selflessness they had, the charisma…They wanted to live life to the fullest. So I’ve figured that’s how I’m going to live the rest of my life too.’