Cruz was a first-year transfer student who graduated from South Pointe High School.
She tragically passed away on April 26 in a car accident. 
ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA At the beginning of the school year, Winthrop University
student Kuira Cruz commented this on her friend Justin Norwood's Instagram picture: "Have a great semester
and shine bright. There is only one you in the university. Preach acceptance and love."
"I think it encompasses well the way she lived her life, spreading light and love
wherever she went," Norwood said.
Cruz, a biology major from Rock Hill, tragically passed away in a car accident on
April 26. She was 20 years old.
Cruz was a first-year transfer student who graduated from South Pointe High School.
She was about to complete her second semester.
Friends describe her as "a beautiful soul," smart, funny and kind with a voice that
possessed a song-like quality.
"Our thoughts are with her family, fellow students and colleagues who knew her," Vice President for Student Life Frank Ardaiolo said in a campus-wide e-mail.
