EAP student dies in car accident
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 22, 2002 9:00 p.m.
 Chantal Armstrong
By Sabrina Singhapattanapong
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]
UCLA senior Chantal Armstrong, 22, died in a car accident Sunday
morning in Mexico City.
Armstrong, an anthropology student, was a passenger in a car
with two friends she’d met in Mexico while studying abroad,
when the car lost control and crashed into a telephone pole. Police
in Mexico City are still investigating the accident.
Chancellor Albert Carnesale, who is currently out of town, sent
a letter of condolence to the Armstrong family upon hearing the
news. The UC Education Abroad Program also expressed its sympathy
in a statement.
“We are deeply saddened by this event,” the
statement reads. “The fact that such incidents are,
thankfully, rare on EAP in no way mitigates the pain and sorrow we
feel at the loss of such a promising young life.”
Armstrong left for Mexico City in January to participate in a
field research program offered through UC EAP and was scheduled to
return home May 31.
In Oaxaca, Mexico, she completed a research project, where she
examined the elementary education system there, concentrating on
bilingual education.
She decided to study in Mexico because she wanted to improve her
Spanish language skills, conduct her own research project in
preparation for graduate school and explore her growing interest in
immigration issues, according to Emily Mohajeri Norris,
administrative director of UCLA EAP.
“She was perfectly suited for this kind of program,”
Norris said.
Armstrong enjoyed her time in Mexico, said Terry Armstrong, her
older brother.
She was actually planning on returning to Mexico this summer to
teach elementary school, he said.
“She’s a very generous, friendly, loving person who
enjoyed life and brought happiness to everybody she met,” he
added.
Armstrong tutored middle school students twice a week at
Belvedere Middle School in East Los Angeles and transferred to UCLA
from Saddleback Community College in fall 2000, Norris said.
Michael Zanca, one of Armstrong’s five male roommates
while she was at UCLA, describes her as motherly.
Zanca remembers the chocolate brownies Armstrong loved baking
and how her “smile could take your breath away.”
“We’re five guys in the house, so things can get out
of hand, but Chantal was the one who kept us grounded,” Zanca
said.
“I never heard her raise her voice or get upset or mad at
anybody … she was always a step ahead,” he added.
April Palmer, Armstrong’s best friend of eight years, said
Armstrong had an impact on everyone she ran into.
“She pretty much lit up the room,” Palmer said.
“All of us are still in shock, and a lot of us don’t
know how to deal with this,” Zanca said. “Chantal was
supposed to be home … not in a box.”
Susan Armstrong, Chantal’s mother, has established the
UCLA EAP-Chantal Armstrong Memorial Scholarship Fund for students
to study abroad. Checks should be made payable to UC Regents and
mailed to: Chantal Armstrong Memorial Scholarship Fund, Attn: Steve
Gamer, UCLA College of Letters and Sciences, 1332 Murphy Hall, UCLA
405 N. Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095.
Memorial services have been scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at
25876 Triton Ct., Mission Viejo, CA 92691 and 2 p.m. Sunday at El
Torro Baptist Church, 23302 El Torro Rd., Lake Forest, CA
92630.
