The West Hall High School community is mourning the loss of a student who died after falling into Lake Lanier on Friday evening.
Cristofer Acosta-Farias, 17, disappeared into the lake while swimming near Balus Creek Park, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The teenager’s body was found about an hour after he slipped underwater.
Acosta-Farias, who was an 11th grader at West Hall High in Oakwood, played the baritone in the school’s band, director Katy Wilson-Fields said in a Facebook post.
“Words are hard to find right now,” she wrote.
On Sunday evening, a candlelight vigil honoring Acosta-Farias was held in the same part of Lake Lanier where he first disappeared, she said.
The band director called Acosta-Farias an “absolute light,” and said he was constantly encouraging his bandmates on the field.
“He had a booming, deep, loud voice,” Wilson-Fields said. “When asked to count loud on the marching field, his voice boomed over all of the low brass.”
Wilson-Fields said teachers, counselors and administrators at West Hall are working to support grieving students as they cope with the loss.
“He knew the kind of person he wanted to become, and he was constantly working toward becoming a better person,” she said. “But Cristof was already such a wonderful young man and he will be so, so missed.”
A GoFundMe page was created to help the family with funeral costs. So far, it has raised more than $9,000.
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