It was an emotional scene outside Frederick Douglass Academy III Secondary School where mourners remembered special education teacher Shelly Vilsaint who died in a car crash earlier this week.

News 12 reported that Vilsaint was killed when her car and two tractor-trailers collided and quickly caught fire. The crash happened while Vilsaint was on her way home Tuesday, headed toward New Jersey on the expressway, according to police. The flames from the crash engulfed all three vehicles. The NYPD says Vilsaint rear-ended one tractor-trailer, leading to a second one rear-ending her.

The night before the crash, students say they were together at a Nets game with Vilsaint. She took to social media posting a video from the game saying, “Who said you can’t enjoy being a teacher?”

It would be just a day later when students would learn about what happened. They said “she would put a smile on your face” during a bad day and was an advocate for students to finish high school and move on to higher education.

“She was everything here. She was the coach of the girls’ basketball team. She did the PM school, she did Board of Congress…she was there, she was that teacher,” said one student.