AMERICAN FALLS — Six current students from American Falls High School and one AFHS graduate can all agree on one thing — they are lucky to be alive.

    On Monday, Aug. 6, around 1 p.m. these students were on their way to an annual retreat by the Palisades Reservoir in Wyoming when in a few moments their lives were changed forever.

    Nick Nelson explained how the accident occurred.

    At a stop sign the driver of the vehicle, Alexi Sprague, pulled out to look around a truck when a white van appeared. Sprague attempted to accelerate to miss the van, when the van suddenly turned toward their vehicle and hit them on the front part of their van.

    “I looked at the white van and thought to myself, ‘I think that van is going to hit us,’” said Exel Stroschein.

    Sprague would suffer the most serious injuries with three skull fractures, a dislocated right elbow, and bones broken in her left hand, temporary deafness in her left ear, as well as bruises and swelling in both of her legs.

    Looking at the wreckage, all of the students agreed there was something or someone watching over them that day.

    “A big bubble of God kept us from dying,” said Kelsey Taylor.

    The other injuries include a broken collar bone suffered by Taylor. Stroschein had some skin ripped off the bottom of his foot. Nelson was in the front passenger seat and suffered a cut on his arm down to the tendons. Adam Steen has a bruised rib. Rebel Christensen received eight staples in the back of her head and Colby Deagle had some pulled tendons and whiplash.

    Nelson was the first one out of the vehicle and went around to the back of the van and took the pillow case off of his pillow and wrapped it around his arm. He then began helping his fellow classmates.

    Other people who witnessed the accident also came to the students’ aid with bottles of water, orange cones to surround the accident area and a claw hammer to open some of the van doors.

    After all the students were extracted from the vehicle, they were transported to Star Valley Medical Center in Afton, Wyo. The students came in at one time and medical staff did not have the opportunity to ask names, so at first they were all given a different color for the staff to use when addressing their needs.

    Stroschein was transported in the same ambulance as Sprague and said he was really concerned about her because she was in so much pain. Taylor could hear Sprague’s crying and screaming from her room, because of the proximity of the trauma rooms.

    “That was the most traumatic part for me,” Taylor recalled.

    While all of this is happening there is one person who is waiting to hear about the students’ well-being, their acting adviser Dana Facer. Because they were all minors the students could really only see their parents. Taylor knew Facer had to be waiting on any report of their well-being and asked a nurse if she could see her adviser.

    Facer was allowed to come in and see Taylor, who then apologized for the seat of her van having to be cut out.

    “You could tell she felt guilty, but I told her it wasn’t her fault,” said Taylor. “I think she felt bad because it was her van we were driving in.”

    Everyone’s concerns all returned to Sprague, who had suffered the most life threatening injuries. The students didn’t know about her well-being before she was transported via Life Flight to Portneuf Medical Center until the following day when they were all released.

    Weeks have passed since the accident and the students are still dealing with what happened. Nelson admits he still has nightmares, while Stroschein recalls the feeling of the accident and the smells.

    “When I saw the van coming toward us I thought for a moment, ‘Is this really going to happen?’ and then the next thing I knew I was waking up after the accident happened,” said Steen.

    Sprague is doing good, according to Nelson and Stroschein, and is herself despite what happened in the accident. They were all afraid it was going to change her.

    A trip that was supposed to be a leadership experience for the A.F. Actors presidency did turn out to be just that. The students were planning to spend the weekend relaxing and enjoying each other’s company. However, they are now closer than ever because of the accident.

    All of the students are afraid for their adviser to be “slammed” by other students when school starts on Aug. 27. Taylor is concerned about falling behind in school because of her right arm being in a sling and unable to write.

    The one thing all of students want people to know about the entire incident is that it was not a school affiliated trip and that it was an accident.

    “It was just like a group of friends going on a camping trip,” said Stroschein.

    Steen also expressed his concern about Sprague being blamed for what happened to them that day.

    “It was not Alexi’s fault. Legally it might have been, but there are a lot of accidents at that intersection,” he said.