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High school student killed in ATV crash

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NOTTOWAY COUNTY, Va. -- Janet Driver, 17, was just weeks away from graduating Nottoway High School.

She planned to join the military, her mother Sibyl Driver shared.

But Janet's life ended unexpectedly Sunday evening when her ATV struck a tree.

Janet was taken to Centra Southside Community Hospital in Farmville where she was pronounced dead.

"I just don't know how I am going to go on with life without my baby girl," Janet's mother Sibyl said. "She was my world. My mini me."

While in school, Janet worked at The Brew House in Blackstone, her mother said.

After graduation in May, Sibyl Driver said Janet planned to join the Marines or the National Guard.

"She loved softball, friends, family, and was always laughing and smiling," Sibyl said. "[She] would give you the shirt off her back."

Janet's father Randy Martin called her his pride and joy and said he was lost without her.

Virginia State Police are investigating the crash.

"A 2014 Suzuki ATV was traveling along Route 713 when it ran off the left side of the road. The vehicle overturned several times and struck several trees before finally coming to a stop. The 17-year-old female driver and a 14-year-old passenger were thrown from the vehicle," a Virginia State Police spokesperson said. "The driver was transported to Southside Community Hospital in Farmville, where she died later Sunday evening."

Janet was the secondteenager with connections to Nottoway High School to be killed in a crash this school year.

Former student Josh Baughan, 18, was killed in a December crash on Cox Road.

Josh and Janet were friends, according to Janet's mother.

Grief counselors are on hand to help students and staff at all county schools deal with the sudden loss, Nottoway County Public Schools superintendent Dr. Rodney Berry said.

"She was just always bubbly and full of life," said Amanda Key, who worked with Janet at the Brew House.

That's a sentiment echoed by Tina Wyatt, who said she has known Janet her whole life.

"We just saw Janet, we just spoke to her;  it's hard to accept," Wyatt said.  "She was so young, full of life."

Friends said that Janet loved to sing, and had an amazing voice. She often did karokae with her friends.

"That was her favorite thing...best song, she could sing it almost as good as Adele, was Hello," Key said.

Friends set-up a GoFundMe account to raise money to help Janet's family cover unexpected costs.

By Monday morning, the GoFundMe page had helped raise more than $1,000 toward its $2,000 goal.

Anyone with memories of Janet that they would like to share can email them here.

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