After a one-day Election Day vacation, Pembroke Academy students returned to classes and were struck with the grim reality that one of their fellow classmates was gone.

Fourteen-year-old Marissa Gray of Chichester, a freshman at the school, suffered fatal injuries in a car accident in Hooksett on Nov. 3.

Marissa was the sole passenger in a gold Chevrolet Malibu, driven by her mother, Denise Gray, 55. The mid-size car collided nearly head-on with an oncoming Ford pickup truck when Denise Gray lost control trying to avoid a stopped car at a traffic light near the Hooksett- Allenstown line by the Mega-X convenience store on Route 3.

The pickup was driven by Timothy Field, 52, of Pembroke.

The two drivers were transported to a nearby hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries. State police said Marissa was killed during the crash.

Pembroke Academy Headmaster Mike Reardon said the school is dealing with the loss of Marissa as best it can. “When we received the news, we got our crisis team together,” Reardon said. Counselors, psychologists and clergy were on hand at the school Wednesday, Nov. 5, to help students cope with the news, he said. “We’ve got counselors in freshman classes all day today. If the kids need to talk about stuff, the counselors there to facilitate that process,” he said.

To compound the harsh reality that the teens have been confronted with, Reardon said Marissa was one of the school’s brightest students. She was a member of the field hockey team, the lacrosse team and the Key Club. Her records indicate she planned to attend college. She excelled in math.

On Nov. 5, many of Marissa’s friends wore ribbon bracelets tied at their wrists to remember her. Members of the field hockey team penciled the number 74 – Marissa’s field hockey jersey number – in black eyeliner on their cheeks. Other students made posters. Some made Tshirts to commemorate her life.

“She was genuinely liked by everybody – adults and kids,” he said. “(The students) are supporting themselves. They’re stunned, they’re shocked, but their doing what human beings needs to do during these times, which is to help each other.”

Andrea Hammond, the staff psychologist at Pembroke Academy, said students are expressing their grief in different ways and parents should be aware that even if their children were not friends with Marissa, they are still likely affected by the loss.

“First of all, parents should probably recognize kids might be grieving in different ways. They may come home and not want to talk about it,” Hammond said. “You see a lot of physical problems, stomach aches, problems with eating and sleeping.

They also go back to a younger maturity level. They regress in many ways.”

Angry, hostility, denial and depression are all common symptoms of adolescent grief, she said.

“Spend extra time with the children,” Hammond said. “Don’t be afraid of it, otherwise it will be the elephant in the room. Make yourself available to the kids a lot. They will probably need extra parental attention. They might get clingier. They might want to cuddle up with their parents. Keep things as normal as possible, but don’t be completely inflexible.”