Rainham Mark Grammar School pays tribute to Sittingbourne paramedic Alice Clark who was killed in horror crash near Sevenoaks
14:05, 17 January 2022
updated: 16:00, 17 January 2022
A paramedic who was killed in an ambulance crash has been remembered as generous, vivacious and dedicated by her former school.
Alice Clark, 21 was killed on the A21 near Sevenoaks earlier this month.
The medic, from Newington, near Sittingbourne, was a former pupil of Rainham Mark Grammar School (RMGS) in Rainham.
The head teacher there, Lisa Barker, said Alice was and always will be a treasured member of the school community.
She said: "We were all extremely saddened to hear the news of Alice’s passing and our thoughts are with her family and also with her friends.
"During her time at RMGS, Alice had many friends, which is unsurprising really as she was generous and humane, cheerful and empathetic.
"One of her A-level teachers perfectly encapsulated Alice’s vivacious personality recently, describing her as someone who ‘lit up the classroom when she entered’."
Alice went on to the University of Greenwich to study to become a paramedic, graduating in July 2021.
Mrs Barker said Alice’s compassionate nature meant it was inevitable she would find a career path which involved serving and helping others, after deciding early on in sixth form she wanted to become a paramedic.
"She pursued her goal with fierce determination and proactively organised her own work experience placements," she added.
"Colleagues remember reading draft after draft of her personal statement and practising interview techniques with her, knowing that she wanted to get everything right, which of course she did.
"No one at Rainham Mark Grammar School was at all surprised when she was offered university places to study paramedic science, and when she chose to study at Greenwich we all knew what they would be getting: a dedicated, tenacious and optimistic student who would enrich her university like she enriched our school.
"She was a treasured member of the RMGS family; she always will be."
Following the horrific crash, just two months after Alice joined the South East Coast Ambulance Service, her parents paid tribute to their daughter and thanked people for their messages of support.
They said: "We take solace in the fact that Alice was doing what she loved at the time that she passed away - we are so proud of her and what she achieved and had already experienced in her all too short life. We miss her dreadfully."
Alice's ambulance was in a collision with a cement lorry on the Sevenoaks bypass at around 8pm on January 5.
A male paramedic was airlifted to a London hospital with multiple injuries, while a student paramedic was also treated for a head injury.
The driver of a cement lorry involved in the accident suffered minor injuries.
Giovanni Mazza, manager at the Paddock Wood Operating Unit where Alice was based said: “Although she had only been with us for a short time, Alice was already very much part of our ambulance family and will be remembered as a kind and dedicated paramedic."
Yasmin Bekir, who was together with Alice at university, set up a GoFundMe page to support the family in the wake of her death. It has raised more than £11,000.
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