As students of Star Valley Middle School wound down their classes and activities for the school year, one of their classmates was missing and they wanted to do something to memorialize Izibelle Sevigny who passed away on February 15, 2023 after a lengthy and heroic battle with cancer. She was just 13 years old.

“We wanted to help the family and help the students get some closure to that situation,” said Artie Johnson. “We heard there were some biodegradable balloons that won’t litter the mountain so we were excited to do that. The parents were taken by it and it was a good activity for our students.”

It isn’t easy to lose a classmate and many of the students in the SVMS seventh grade were just starting to get to know Izi. Others had known her for a lifetime.

“Some of the students had gone with her in the lower valley [schools] for years,” Johnson added. “This year she was so sick that a lot of our students didn’t get to know her as well as they would have. Because of that we were able to make a video for her to try and lift her spirits and we tried to involve the entire seventh grade in those activities.”

Tears were shed for her as the balloons carried off into the sky. While this moment will provide a bit of closure for the end of Izzy’s life, her legacy will be carried on with what will eventually be the SVHS Class of 2028.

“We had a plaque created for her that had a quote that her wings were ready but we weren’t,” Johnson stated. “That plaque will continue to go with her from class to class until graduation and then it will be presented to her family at graduation with that class at that time. We just wanted a way of memorializing her.”