STANFIELD — It wasn’t the reunion that Stanfield Secondary School Principal Steve Sheller hoped to have with his students.

As he looked out on many of them for the first time since March, he was there not to welcome them back to school but to offer words of comfort as they worried for classmates in the hospital after a crash.

“Whatever you’re feeling now — whatever it is — it’s OK,” he said during a candlelight vigil at Bard Park on Thursday, Oct. 1. “If you feel sad, that’s OK. If you feel fearful, that’s OK. If you don’t know what to feel, that’s OK. … What’s not OK is to do it alone.”

Five teenage boys — three Stanfield Secondary students and two recent graduates — were involved in a single vehicle rollover on Tuesday, Sept. 29.

According to Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan, deputies were dispatched for the report of a crash on North Loop Road to the east of Hermiston at about 10:15 p.m. The Oregon State Police and its crash reconstruction unit is assisting the sheriff’s office in the investigation, but statements at the scene indicated a 2012 Toyota Camry lost control and left the roadway while traveling in excess of 100 mph.

The vehicle severed a power pole and three of its occupants were ejected, Rowan said. All five were then transported from the scene to Good Shepherd Medical Center in Hermiston before three were flown to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Washington.

Rowan identified the driver of the vehicle as 19-year-old Eduardo Nunez.

About 100 Stanfield residents gathered Oct. 1 at Bard Park to comfort each other and pray for those injured in the crash. Sheller directed his comments to the students there, telling them that even though the pandemic has created isolation, it was important not to try to deal with their worries on their own.

“You have a tremendous community here in Stanfield,” he said.

He encouraged everyone present to heed Teddy Roosevelt’s words to “spend yourself in a worthy cause” and to find ways to help other people as they go through a difficult time.

“Now is a great time to be kind to one another,” he said.

Stanfield Baptist Church Pastor John Hurty led the group in prayer, and said that his heart went out to all the friends and family of the boys affected.

“An event like this reminds us that life is incredibly fragile and incredibly precious,” he said.

After people at the vigil lit candles and observed a moment of silence, members of the group broke off into smaller groups to pray together, cry together or sign cards and a banner with well wishes.

Sheller said school counselors continue to be available for students who wish to speak to one.

As of Oct. 2, two online fundraisers have been set up for the crash victims.

A GoFundMe account set up for Gabriel Monkus described his injuries as “serious” and stated he was still in a Spokane hospital. A second GoFundMe account for the Nunez family stated that Eduardo Nunez had suffered a broken leg, while his brother Armando had been sent to Spokane via Life Flight and remains in the hospital.

To donate to Gabriel Monkus’s medical bills, visit gofundme.com/f/benefit-for-gabe-monkus. To donate to Armand and Eduardo Nunez, visit gofundme.com/f/help-for-nunez-family.

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East Oregonian reporter Alex Castle contributed to this report.