Scholarship Honors Memory Of North Texas Girl Killed In Crash Caused By Distracted Driver
ARGYLE, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Nearly three years after Tita Shaffer, a student at Liberty Christian School in Argyle was killed in a car crash along with her mother, there is a scholarship in her name... and it comes with an important message: Don't text and drive.
A biannual #TextFreeForTita Scholarship will award two students a year with a $1,000 scholarship for creating a compelling campaign against distracted driving using social media.
The deadly crash happened when car traveling southbound crossed into the northbound lanes of traffic and hit the Shaffers' vehicle head-on.
The driver who swerved was said to have been texting. She and her passenger were killed as well.
"What happened was an absolute tragedy, but we hope that the losses suffered by both the Shaffer family and the Argyle community will not be in vain and this scholarship will do some good for the community," said Travis Patterson, founding partner of the Patterson Law Group.
Emma Shaffer was a long-time volunteer at Liberty Christian School, only about one mile away from the crash scene. Friends described the mother and her daughter as being full of life. Tita had been attending the campus since preschool.
The Patterson Law Group explained, one of Tita's best friends, Janae Cook, worked with her mother to channel her emotions of sadness and frustration after the deadly crash into positive change.
That's how Janae founded the campaign, "Text Free For Tita," to raise awareness on the dangers of distracted driving.
For more details on the scholarship, click here.