PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Rebekah Baptiste should be in fifth grade, but instead, her school hosted a celebration of life in honor of the 10-year-old girl, gone too soon.

Family, friends, and teachers packed into Empower College Prep ’s gym on Thursday to pay tribute to Rebekah while dressed in her favorite color, pink.

An original song, decorated clothespins, flowers, photos and tears were part of the memorial.

Her third-grade teacher read a poem she wrote in the little girl’s memory and her fourth-grade teacher reflected on Rebekah’s kindness and the warning signs that something was wrong at home.

“I was lucky because I got to show you love when the people you wanted to most refused. I loved you so much. You changed me in so many ways,” said Phenicia Swalley, her fourth-grade teacher

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