TRUE SPIRIT
Lungpaulinya Xaphouvong, killed in a tragic crash this week, was one of the most well-loved and spirited students at Woonsocket High
WOONSOCKET – It is going to take some time for the Villa Novan community at the high school to recover from the sudden loss of Lungpaulinya Xaphouvong, 17, a wellknown and as evidenced by a Barry Field Tuesday evening vigil, loved member of the Class of 2018.
Her theater and dance teacher, Jennifer Maiello, attended the vigil with a gathering of hundreds of current and past students at the city’s high school athletic complex off Smithfield Road and said it had helped her to feel a little better over the horrible loss of Paulinya, as she was known to her friends, in an Monday afternoon car accident on Route 295.
It was Paulinya’s energy and school spirit that will be missed by so many of her fellow students when school resumes in the fall, Maiello said.
Paulinya, it seemed was involved in everything, from service as an officer in her class to a role of go-to person when something needed to be done, Maiello said.
“It is a huge loss to the whole school community,” she said. “She was a huge part of our school spirit.”
Maiello can still picture Paulinya out in front at prep rallies in the school gym. Acting out to raise Villa Novan fervor and working with her fellow students to generate pride in their school.
She was also a member of the school’s Junior ROTC Wing, an honor student, a peer mentor, and the vice president of her class, having won election to that title for her upcoming senior year.
But Paulinya was more than even all of that as the many different groups of students attending her vigil proved, her teacher said.
“She was a friend to so many different groups of kids in the school,” she said. Some of the students at the rally were Southeast Asian like Paulinya but all the school’s other ethnic backgrounds were also present, Maiello noted. “Paulinya was friends with everybody,” she said.
And it was especially hard for the
students who performed with her in Maiello’s theater productions and musicals where Paulinya was a growing talent.
She was a member of the chorus and was working on taking a greater role in dance routines in the shows put on at the high school.
“She was a fast learner and very dedicated, she didn’t miss any rehearsals,” Maiello said.
Paulinya was a member of the cast for “Humbug High School,” the big show put on last year, and had also worked on “Showstoppers” in May and the “A Night in New York” performed at the school in the spring of 2016.
With her parents, Tommy and June Lithisack, both working evenings at their 3 to 11 p.m. jobs, Paulinya also had the job of caring for her 3½-year-old brother Joshua after school and at night and worked that into her busy schedule, too.
Joshua would come to evening theater practices with his sister and is well known to all the theatre students participating, Maiello said.
Paulinya was taking her brother, seated in a car seat behind her, and a teenage friend to the beach Monday afternoon, when she is reported to have reached back to adjust his position and lost control of the car. It continued on off the highway and into a tree, fatally injuring Paulinya. Her brother and her friend were injured but later released after being treated at Hasbro Children’s Hospital.
Maiello said she sadly saw all the traffic backed up on the highway when heading home on Monday but did not know at the time one of her students was involved in the incident.
“The fact the tragic accident occurred while school was in recess will allow the school community some time to begin a healing process and work on remembering Paulinya in someway when school resumes, according to Maiello.
“It was a horribly sad thing and I know the students are going to feel the loss when they come back to school in September,” she said.
Members of the school community, including Superintendent Patrick McGee have visited Paulinya’s family on Cross Street as did Mayor BaldelliHunt.
Visitation hours are planned for Friday at MenardLacouture Funeral Home at 127 Carrington Ave. in Woonsocket, that many of Paulinya’s fellow students also plan to attend, Maiello said.
“I know that a lot of my kids in theater and dance are asking what can we do right now,” Maiello said while noting their interest in helping out. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help her family with funeral expenses and Maiello said as of Wednesday, $4,500 had been raised. “It is so sweet, hun- dreds of them are donating small amounts, $10, to help out,” she said.
The next step will be remembering Paulinya with something she loved to do, Maiello said.
“The kids in theater and dance are hurting and they want to do something. What do you do when you are in theater and dance? You put on a show,” Maiello said. To that end, Maiello said she will be working with her classes to come up with a way to dedicate a show, probably the group’s annual fundraiser, in Paulinya memory.
“Everyone was silent at the vigil and Paulinya’s family was there so it was very sad, but at the same time I felt good about how they all came together as a community,” she said.