A painfully emotional day as friends create a roadside memorial on Route 30 near Lippincott Road in Columbiana County as a reminder of three young lives lost Saturday morning.

The victims are 16-year-old Savannah Russell, a junior at Minerva High School; 19-year-old Storm Angione, a Minerva senior and the football team's quarterback; and 18-year-old A'liyia Hancock, a Minerva graduate and freshman in college.

Minerva High School Principal Mike Riley says, "As long as any of us can remember we've not had a tragedy like this in Minerva. These are great kids, and they're great leaders, and kind to everyone, and have a strong sense of future and vision of what they want to do, and it's just a terrible, terrible loss."

The Ohio State Highway Patrol says it's believed that icy roads caused the vehicle Savannah Russell was driving to slide into the path of a Brown School District bus that was on its way to Lisbon.

School officials wanted to make sure that students had those facts when they went through grief counseling. "In particular, that it was due to ice. There was no one to blame and sometime there isn't someone to blame. Because sometimes the grieving process can be interrupted by the assigning of blame," Riley said.

Superintendent Gary Chaddock tells 21 News, a community vigil at the high school brought people together and began the healing, and students like Ben Zbasnik agree.

“It's been hard on the school, but I think we are coming together in the right way,” Zbasnik said.