Madeysen Kleve was looking forward to her independence.
She had just turned 18 in April, was going to graduate from Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted High School on Sunday, then attend Minnesota State University, Mankato, for a career as a neonatal nurse.
Kleve, who died Wednesday in a car crash coming home from a high school track meet, also was a finalist for the Miss Howard Lake pageant in the town's upcoming Good Neighbor Days festivities in June.
As part of a biography she composed for the competition, the Howard Lake teen wrote she was looking forward "to becoming more independent and starting a new chapter in my life."
"I plan on doing this by going to college, meeting new people and working hard to get good grades," she wrote.
People who know her said Kleve was active in school, her church and her community.
Kleve went on a missions trip last year to the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. She painted houses and conducted Bible school with children, said her pastor, Joel Swedberg of St. John's Lutheran Church in Howard Lake.
In high school, Kleve participated in volleyball, track, band and choir. As part of her support for other track athletes she attended a state sectional meet at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn.
In a biography submitted as part of her candidacy for Miss Howard Lake, Kleve also wrote: "I ... try to attend as many high school sporting events as possible to support my friends and school."
HERÓN MÁRQUEZ ESTRADA AND PAUL WALSH
