UCLA graduate student drowns while hiking in Sequoia National Park
By Jacob Preal
July 7, 2017 4:43 p.m.
A UCLA student drowned in Sequoia National Park while trying to cross a dangerous stream.
Kendra Perez, 26, was a graduate acting student, according to the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television’s Alumni Affairs newsletter. Perez was walking along the Twin Lakes Trail in Sequoia National Park on June 18 when she fell into Silliman Creek, said Teresa Douglass, a spokesperson for the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department.
Perez was swept downstream and got stuck in rocks and branches, said Sintia Kawasaki-Yee, acting public affairs officer for Sequoia National Park. She added that rescue teams could not retrieve Perez’s body until the next day because the stream was too dangerous to access.
Kawasaki-Yee said Sequoia National Park did not collect the victim’s name when the incident report was created, but Douglass confirmed the woman who drowned was Perez in an email statement.
