{"id":167705,"date":"2026-04-16T17:11:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T17:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/167705\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T17:11:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T17:11:50","slug":"parkland-grad-west-chester-student-fatally-hit-by-vehicle-is-mourned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/167705\/","title":{"rendered":"Parkland grad, West Chester student fatally hit by vehicle is mourned"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Parkland High School graduate who died after being hit by a vehicle over the weekend in West Chester is being mourned by friends and family.<\/p>\n

West Chester University junior Garrett Nicholas, 21, was hit by a vehicle early Sunday morning, according to a report from the Daily Local News.<\/a> Borough police said in a news release<\/a> that Nicholas was hit by a vehicle in the 300 block of South High Street. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died from his injuries.<\/p>\n

Social media posts from his family showed he graduated from Parkland in 2023.<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe page, created by Nicholas\u2019 friend Jimmy Kane to help pay for memorial expenses and help Nicholas\u2019 family, described Nicholas as a \u201cone-of-a-kind person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGarrett was the kind of person who would give you hope, and watching his actions inspired everyone around him to be kinder. He played his role perfectly, showing all of us what it means to be a true, genuine friend. We all need to be more like Garrett,\u201d Kane wrote.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe PIKE frat house where Garrett Nicolas resided. (BILL RETTEW\/MEDIANEWS GROUP)<\/p>\n

Nicholas was a business major and member of the PIKE fraternity at West Chester University. More than 100 of his fraternity brothers gathered at the hospital to support him, which was a testament to the impact he had on them, Kane wrote on the GoFundMe page.<\/p>\n

Outside the fraternity house on High Street, members placed candles spelling out \u201cGURT,\u201d Nicholas\u2019 nickname, in the grass.<\/p>\n

The online fundraiser raised about $82,000 of its $100,000 goal as of Thursday afternoon. Those who wish to donate may do so at gofund.me\/7f4fb132b<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another GoFundMe<\/a> set up to help his family with costs related to his medical expenses and death said Nicholas was someone who \u201cloved everyone,\u201d and he had a gift for making people feel seen and valued.<\/p>\n

\u201cAffectionately known as \u2018Giggles\u2019 by close friends, he carried a lightness and joy that lifted those around him,\u201d the GoFundMe reads. \u201cNot much ever got him down\u2014he approached life with optimism, humor, and a genuine love for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

That campaign has raised about $3,000 of its $9,000 goal as of Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe nickname of student Garrett Nicolas \u201cGURT\u201d who died Sunday morning is displayed in candles outside his frat house. (BILL RETTEW\/MEDIANEWSGROUP)<\/p>\n

Nicholas\u2019 mother, Traci Conrad Hafner, posted on social media that his organs were used to save the lives of three people. She wrote that he was kind, always wanted to help people and loved kids.<\/p>\n

She praised his the members of his fraternity, who she said he loved \u201cmore than words.\u201d\u00a0 He was happy and loved his life, she wrote.<\/p>\n

The outpouring of support has shown her how much he was loved, Conrad Hafner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the brightest light in my world from the first day we laid eyes on each other,\u201d her post reads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Parkland High School graduate who died after being hit by a vehicle over the weekend in West…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,1557,227,433,182,139,3656,9790,28,664,432,4129,1558],"class_list":{"0":"post-167705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news","11":"tag-chester-county","12":"tag-education","13":"tag-lehigh-county","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-north-whitehall-township","17":"tag-parkland-area","18":"tag-pennsylvania","19":"tag-south-whitehall-township","20":"tag-top-stories-tmc","21":"tag-upper-macungie-township","22":"tag-west-chester"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}