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Issue date: 10/27/09 Section: Campus News

As is the case for many people at Embry-Riddle, Francesca Martino was on her way to the stars. At only 23, she was to graduate next May with a double degree in Aerospace Engineering and Aerospace Studies. One day, she hoped to become an astronaut.

Now she is gone, and the ERAU community as a whole is mourning her loss.

At 6:20 a.m. on Monday morning, Martino was commuting to her internship with United Space Alliance, where she had been working for several months. On Colonial Drive, in Orlando, her Kawasaki 650 struck a car that drove into her path while making a left turn. After the crash, she was taken to the Orlando Regional Medical Center, where she passed away a few hours later.

She left behind her family, her boyfriend, and all the ones whose life she had impacted in her past four years on the Daytona Beach campus.

"Francesca was actually one of the first people I met when I got to this school freshman year," said Beth McCubbin, one of Martino's former teammates on the ERAU cross country and track team. "We were both from St. Petersburg, which is probably why I clicked with her. But she was just one of these people who were very open and lively. That night, when I called my parents to talk to them about my first day, I talked to them about Francesca. She made my transition to this school easier. That's one of the great things about her, she makes you feel welcome."

During the four and a half years she spent at ERAU, in addition to classes she was really active on campus. As a collegiate athlete, she ran for ERAU's cross country and track teams until 2008. She still holds the program 2000m steeple chase record. Martino also sat on the SGA finance board for two years and was an active member of the Tri-Sigma sorority.

To supplement that busy schedule, she commuted three times a week to Cape Canaveral, where she contributed to the re-engineering of space boosters.

However when her friends remember her, it is more for the person she was than for all of her accomplishments.

"She was very energetic, especially on the track," said former teammate Keshia Richardson. "She was always the kind of person to uplift your spirit, always in a good mood. She had a lot of humor."

For others, she was just that passionate girl walking around campus with her helmet, who could always have personal conversations no matter how long she had not seen that person.

Along with the students, the school's administration also feels the shock of her disappearance.

Continued...

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