Rachael Elizabeth Hill was at peace with the Lord when she was fatally shot at Virginia Tech, according to her high school superintendant and pastor.

Hill, 18, a freshman, graduated last year from the Grove Avenue Christian School in Henrico County, which is affiliated with the Grove Avenue Baptist Church.

"The world has lost one of its brightest prospects, but the Lord is glorified through ... the life that she lived and the impact Rachael had on others in the name of Jesus Christ," Clay Fogler, the school’s superintendent, said in a statement.

Fogler expressed sympathy, support and prayers for Hill’s family and the families of all the victims.

"Rachael had a wonderful, close, loving relationship with her parents," he said. "Any parent would have counted it a privilege to have called her their daughter.

Hill possessed beauty, intelligence, poise, leadership and other wonderful traits, including being "perpetually prepared" because of her belief in God, Fogler said.

"One of her beloved scriptures is Song of Solomon, 8:5 — ‘Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?’" he said. "Rachael saw herself as the one coming out of the wilderness and needing to lean on her Savior more and more."

Fogler said Hill’s senior yearbook quote from C.S. Lewis summed up what school officials believe she would say at this time.

"God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain."

Pastor Mark Becton of the Grove Avenue Baptist Church said he spoke with Hill’s mother, Tammy, who was comforted by her daughter’s closeness to the Lord.

"Rachael was a young woman of high character, strong integrity and deep faith in her walk with Jesus Christ," Becton said.

"Our hope is that God will use this to turn more people toward him rather than away from him. That was Rachael’s life and so that is our prayer."

— John Cramer