Christina Goyett’s love for education began early in her life.

“Her love for others was a true calling toward the education field,” said her mother Robyn Goyett in an email. “She wanted to be the high school teacher who cared.”

Christina, who died March 2, was a sophomore from Bay City, Mich. working toward a degree in Education for high school English before she planned to switch to become an Intervention Specialist.

Kate Gruss, Christina’s roommate, said this decision came a week before the accident. She went with Christina to work with special needs children from Wood Lane School and taking them on a trip to a Toledo Walleye game.

“Right when we got back … she looked at me and she [said]: ‘I’m going to change my major,” Kate said. “It just really touched her heart, because that was like the first thing she said when we got in the car.”

Sarah Gruss, Christina’s big sister in Alpha Xi Delta, said Christina’s education passion translated well into her University responsibilities, which included house manager and publicity chair for her sorority as well as working at the Student Recreation Center.

As an Orientation Group Weekend Leader during the previous summer, she helped freshmen with moving in and managed to keep in contact with a number of them.

“She just glowed when helping kids, helping others,” Sarah said. “Anything like that, teaching, anything, she just glowed.”

She was also known for being a close confidant. When she baby-sat during the summer, she would always make sure to ask their mother about her day.

“Chrissy would sit and talk with her even though she just baby-sat for three very active boys for six hours or longer,” Robyn said.

Dee Bishop, a close family friend of the Goyetts, said Christina’s mother, who was also a teacher, was Christina’s best friend, something Kate and Sarah both said.

“Her mother was her model, her hero and it was her mother, who was my best friend, who really taught her to live, laugh and love, because that’s the way her mother does,” Bishop said.

Whenever Sarah and Christina would have their weekly Thursday night sleepovers, Sarah noticed that she would always text her mother, even as late as 1:00 a.m.

“It did not matter to us what time these conversations would be,” Robyn said. “She knew she could text or call 24 hours a day.”

Sometimes Robyn would shop for clothing and send Christina a picture of something she may like. A noted fashion enthusiast, Christina would often reply with a text of approval.

This fashion sense did not go unnoticed by her sorority sisters, as both of the Gruss sisters commented on her massive collection of shoes and her willingness to lend clothing to people, which they still wear to honor her.

She shared a similar love of candy, often keeping candy in her many purses and the various nooks and crannies of her room, Kate said.

Christina and her mother would laugh about the candy frequently. She is also remembered by the Gruss sisters and Bishop for her tendency to laugh at random moments.

“Christina and I would laugh over just about anything to the point of crying,” Robyn said.

She also had a love of reading and finished “The Hunger Games” series in one weekend, Kate said.

However, “Harry Potter” was the series that captured her attention, and when she got to visit the theme park in Orlando during Christmas break, she managed to get a hold of a lot of Harry Potter apparel and even enjoyed some butterbeer, while no one else in her family cared for the drink, Kate said.

“She was through and through wizard,” Sarah said.

Her organizational skills extended to scrapbooking and English, and her friends often looked to her for guidance on their research papers, which she was even willing to look at late at night.

“She would just drop everything for you, like in a second, because that’s how big her heart was,” Kate said.

This tendency led her to do something special when her mother’s birthday approached in early March.

The night before the accident, she traveled to Bay City to surprise her mother with her presence, and Bishop said Christina arrived with her boyfriend, Trent, and her brother Cameron to help decorate for the surprise party.

At the “Celebration of Sisterhood” ceremony, Bishop said Robyn was “shocked” and “happy” to see her daughter.

“Christina and Cameron gave their mom a pair of Sperry’s shoes that Robyn promptly modeled,” Bishop said. “Christina cautioned her mother, though, not to wear those with socks.”

She expressed her excitement for the visit all week, Kate said.

“She just could not wait to see her mom and her brother,” Kate said. “When she got there, she said it was the greatest.”