The two victims of a weekend highway collision are being remembered this week by family and friends.

Clare Cherepak, 15, and Brendan Kinney, 20, died Saturday after the car they were passengers in collided with a semi-truck at 3 a.m.

The tragedy occurred at the intersection of the Alaska Highway and the Hamilton Boulevard extension.

Cherepak would have begun Grade 11 this fall at Vanier Catholic Secondary School.

Kinney worked at Bigway Foods in Copper Ridge. He was a graduate of Porter Creek Secondary School.

The 15-year-old female driver of the car was treated and released from Whitehorse General Hospital. Her name has not been released.

The car’s third passenger, 18-year-old Derrick Gibbons, was medevaced to Vancouver General Hospital, where he remained in critical but stable condition today.

Gibbons worked at Bigway with Kinney.

Store manager Ash Jurovich said this morning the news came as a “terrible shock.”

He hired Kinney three years ago, when Kinney was still a student at Porter Creek. He’d been working at the store full-time since graduating.

Kinney was one of the more senior staff at the store – he would assist customers, run the till, stock shelves and work in the bakery.

“He could do everything around here,” Jurovich told the Star.

“He was really outgoing, really funny. He was a smart kid. He got along great with everybody. Just one of the best guys I knew.”

He hired Gibbons earlier this year, after Gibbons graduated from Porter Creek.

He and Kinney quickly became friends.

Jurovich said that, with about 20 employees at the store, everyone is close-knit.

Two grief counsellors visited the store Monday to speak to staff.

“Everyone’s just really trying to support each other,” he said. “We’re all going through the same thing.”

Meanwhile, at Vanier, the Riverdale school has dedicated its front foyer to a memorial of Cherepak.

A photo of her smiling sits on a table next to the Bible, a lit candle and two bouquets of flowers.

“Rest in peace beautiful,” reads a card taped to one of the vases. “We love you. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.”

Grief counsellors are at the school through the week, from noon to 4 p.m., to talk with students.

A steady stream of Cherepak’s friends and classmates visited the school Monday to write notes to her on a large message board set up in the foyer.

“You were one of my best friends and I will always remember you,” wrote one boy.

At the request of her parents, principal Ryan Sikkes declined to comment today on her death.

Vanier plans to host a service for Cherepak at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Her parents suggest that visitors wear bright colours, as she would have liked, and invite them to bring memories, written thoughts and photographs of their daughter to be displayed.

In lieu of flowers, her parents have requested that donations be made to the Whitehorse Food Bank and the Blood Ties Four Directions Centre “to honour Clare’s compassionate and giving nature.”

Whitehorse RCMP have not yet said whether the young car driver involved in Saturday’s tragedy will face criminal charges.

According to Yukon motor vehicle laws, a learner’s licence can be obtained by someone who’s at least 15 years of age.

This permit authorizes the person to drive only while accompanied by a co-driver, someone who holds a valid driver’s licence and has done so for at least two years.

The holder of a learner’s licence must not drive after consuming any alcohol or drugs.

He or she must not drive between midnight and 5 a.m. and must have no more than two passengers in the vehicle, including the co-driver, unless all the passengers are family members.

Whitehorse RCMP Const. Christine Grant said this morning the collision remains under investigation.

The RCMP ‘M’ Division traffic analyst is also working on a report to determine what exactly occurred.

The Alaska Highway was closed for several hours after the collision.