By: Erin Calandra
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A Penn State sophomore was killed in a car crash Sunday afternoon on her way back to campus after raising money for children battling pediatric cancer.
It was a somber Monday morning at University Park.
"They looked her up on social media and put a face to the name and that really sets in and that's when the mourning starts," Penn State junior Ava Graham said.
That student has been identified as Vitalya Sepot, a Penn State sophomore originally from Branford, Connecticut.
Penn State officials say she was in a vehicle with six other students returning from the Philadelphia area after a weekend canning trip raising money for THON.
Police say she was a backseat passenger in an SUV driven by 20-year-old Max Titlebaum, also a Penn State student.
Police say Titlebaum lost control of the vehicle heading west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Chester County.
They say the SUV overturned and Sepot was thrown from the vehicle. Police say she was one of two passengers not wearing seatbelts.
"Everyone in the THON community is deeply saddened by this accident," THON Public Relations Director Lily Beatty said. "Not only the loss of a volunteer, but injuries to others in the car."
This was the first of three canning trips.
That's when students travel to other cities, stand on street corners and collect donations - a tradition at Penn State.
Sepot is the second student to die in a canning trip since 2011.
Sepot was a member of the Alpha Ki Omega sorority majoring in graphic design.
She was 19 years old.
ncG1vNJzZmivmpawtcKNnKamZ56axLR7y6iamqRfpbKvuoysq5qslWLAtcHDnqWtZZSesrR5w66poqaXYsGpu81mmpqmnp67qHnTq6A%3D