Erin Peterson

• Age: 18
• Class: Freshman
• Major: Unknown
• Hometown: Centreville, Va.
• High school: Westfield High School
• Parents: Celeste and Grafton Peterson

Related

• Memorial: Essay becomes student's eulogy
• Sign Erin's guest book
• Virginia Tech shooting victims

From playing power forward on the basketball court to perfecting her French accent in an honors class, Erin Peterson was a vivacious young woman who “enriched everyone’s lives,” said Patrick Deegan, a history teacher and basketball coach at Westfield High School in Chantilly, Va.

“Erin had an insatiable desire to drink in life,” Deegan said. “She was one of those people that if there was an activity, she wanted to do it and do well.”

Centreville neighbors and friends received word by midmorning Tuesday that Peterson had died. They believe she was an only child.

She was a starter on the high school’s varsity basketball squad. She also played on an elite American Athletic Union travel team in the spring and summer. She ran track before high school.

But Peterson was also on the football team as an offensive tackle or linebacker for the “powder puff team,” where girls play football against each other.

Centreville neighbor Mary Koch said Peterson took many Advanced Placement classes. She worked four years on the school’s newspaper.

Koch said Peterson, who was a close friend of her daughter, was admitted into many schools and chose to attend Tech after she graduated in 2006 from Westfield High School.

“She had a very promising future,” Koch said. “It was a horrible tragedy and a waste of this young person’s life.”

She and others noted Peterson’s kind and sweet disposition.

On Tuesday, about 16 friends and basketball teammates gathered in the high school’s guidance conference room, writing anecdotes and finding pictures for a memory book.

“About 14 kids said she reached out to them in a moment of need,” Deegan said.

“She was just so generous of herself. The book is a work in progress and is something [the students] came up with themselves. My heart goes out for every parent and friend.”

— Pamela Podger