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Remembering Hailey Lightner ’23: “Our Brightest Light”

from Agnes Scott The Magazine, Spring/Summer 2023

from Agnes Scott The Magazine, Spring/Summer 2023, page 31

OCTOBER’S CONFERENCE PROMPTED ...

On Sept. 5, 2022 senior Hailey Lightner was tragically killed in a car accident. At an on-campus vigil for her, Agnes Scott College History Professor Kristian Blaich gave this tribute.

Hailey Lightner was a spectacular student, a spectacular thinker, a leader in Agnes Scott’s academic community and just a spectacular person.

I had the privilege of accompanying Hailey on part of her academic journey.

As a first-year student, Hailey was scheduled to travel to Ghana for her Journeys’ experience but the COVID-19 outbreak thwarted those plans. Always seeing the bright side, she remained enthusiastic about seeing the world and experiencing other cultures.

One of the reasons why I have always enjoyed teaching first-year students is that there is something so powerful in seeing them develop. [They] start to identify critical connections … start to question conventional wisdom … find their voice. From the first day of that Journeys class, it was clear that Hailey was special. She was already making those connections, asking those questions, using that voice.

It was wonderful to hear that Hailey wanted to continue her global learning and to serve as a Schmidt Scholar. She would have been so inspirational to the newest first-years. And it is so devastating to think about what we have lost because she won’t be able to serve in that role.

For people in an academic community, there is pretty much nothing worse than losing a student. When that happens, you mourn the student, and you mourn the future that the student should have had, and you mourn the better future the rest of us would have had with Hailey in it.

She is the kind of student who makes me want to be a better teacher. She brought seriousness to all her academic tasks and a quiet intensity to her work.

A careful listener, she was always engaged, and when she spoke, others listened.

She suffered no fools. She didn’t let people get away with arguments that were lazy or sloppy. She didn’t let people look away from important questions or uncomfortable truths. She called out injustice. And she called others in — into conversations about inequality, about systemic racism, about what we owe each other.

She challenged the people around her to be their best selves. In that way, every day, she made all of us better.

Hailey Lightner had such an apt name. She carried a light in her, and she enlightened those around her. And now, one of our brightest lights has gone out.

But even as we grieve, we owe it to Hailey — to her promise — to keep trying to do better every day. To address racism and injustice. To right what is wrong, to fix what is broken. To take care of each other.

Agnes Scott celebrates its outstanding 2022-2023 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings. With SUMMIT, we are leading everywhere.