Community Reacts to Ursuline Student Suicide

Shock. Disbelief. Grief. Mourning.

Those are some of the emotions area residents have had since Jan. 31 when the Yonkers Police began investigating the death of a young girl on Newkirk Road. Detective Lt. Patrick McCormack of the Yonkers Police Department said the death appears to be a suicide. The department issued a statement Thursday that it did not consider bullying to be a factor.

The victim was a freshman at The Ursuline School, an all-girls high school in New Rochelle. A statement, dated Friday, from the school from Principal Eileen Davidson, was as follows:

The Ursuline School has lost a wonderful young member of its close-knit community of students. Our grief is overwhelming. Eira Maghuyop loved our school and was fully engaged in Ursuline's campus life. Our staff continues to take care of our students as they mourn, and we pray for Eira's family. Those are our priorities.

Unfortunately, our grief has been compounded by the erroneous reports on the Internet and among some news organizations that Eira's death was in part the result of bullying at Ursuline. We are reassured by the Yonkers Police Department statement that their investigation "has not revealed any evidence to support that bullying was a factor in this incident."

We thank the community, our alumnae and friends for the outpouring of support. We continue to offer our students counseling, peer mediation, a personal development program, and peer ministry. We will also continue our chapter of Teenangels, a nationwide program of specially trained teens who promote Internet safety and cyberbullying awareness and prevention.

The victim’s brother is currently a student at , an all-boys school in White Plains. The Stepinac community has showed its support for the young man and his family.

In an email provided to Patch, the school’s principal, Paul Carty, said, “It is my very sad duty to inform you that a younger sister of one of our students in sophomore year ended her life yesterday evening. We pray for the repose of her soul and for her family during this unimaginable grief.”

Stepinac has provided an avenue to help students cope with the situation. The email stated, “Our guidance counselors, faculty, administrators and our campus minister will be available tomorrow and for the next few days for any student who wishes to talk, as many did during the day today.”

There have also been outpourings of support and love on Facebook and Youtubewith one Facebook page receiving over 13,000 "Likes."