Flushing Swimmers, Crash Victims, Remembered
April Lau and Kevin Kwan, members of the Flushing Y swimming

team, were killed in an accident on the New York State Thruway three months ago. Their families would never share the dream of seeing them graduate from their beloved Stuyvesant H.S. in Manhattan, where both were promising students and swimmers as well.

But two day ago, at Stuyvesant commencement exercises at Lincoln Center, April and Kevin were remembered by their fellow students and Principal Stanley Teitel as they were given the school's highest honor, a gold seal, in place of the diplomas they never would receive.

The diplomas were presented by New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein in a ceremony in Avery Fisher Hall at the start of the graduation exercises.

Teitel said he arranged for the special honor because he knew how much April, 14, and Kevin, 16, and their families loved the school. Neither were members of the 2006 graduating class, Teitel told reporters, but, he said, "We wanted for the parents to at least have a diploma from Stuyvesant."

April's parents, Karen and Kam Lao, and Kevin's aunt, Mei Kwan, proudly accepted the honor.

"This means a lot to us," Kam Lau, April's father, said as he accepted the diploma. "Finally, my daughter, we can let her go."

Karen Lau, who survived the crash that took her daughter's life, said the diploma held great meaning for her and her husband.

"Thank you, Stuyvesant, for honoring my daughter," she added.

April was in the ninth grade and Kevin in the 10th at Stuyvesant, one of the city's elite schools, when they perished in the crash. Both were excellent swimmers and were members of their school's swimming team.

They were en route to a swimming competition in Buffalo as members of a Flushing YMCA swim team at the time of the fatal accident.

Also killed were Kevin's mother, Shuk Tse, 47, and brother, Douglas Jiang, 10.

Teitel said the deaths of April and Kevin had a jarring affect on the school. He contacted Klein's office several weeks ago to arrange for the special honor for April and Kevin.

-JOHN TOSCANO