Car crash takes sophomore's life

Brynn Bergin's favorite thing to do was hold puppies.\n"She loved to go to the pet store and play with the animals," Bergin's father, Michael, said. "When she was little we took her to the Humane Society to look at the animals, and she cried when we left because we couldn't take one home."\nBergin, a 20-year-old IU student who would have been a sophomore at IU, was killed in a car accident Aug. 7. The 2003 graduate of Mishawaka High School had been visiting friends in Michigan when her car went off the road and hit two trees. Bergin died at the scene.\n"I just want to say to all of the kids out there, just slow down a little bit," Michael Bergin said.\nHe said his daughter was what every parent would want if they had a daughter - the perfect mix of princess and tom-boy. \n"She played hockey, but as soon as she was finished the first thing she had to do was brush her hair," he said.\nAt Mishawaka High School, where the volleyball team has dedicated its season to her memory, Bergin had been popular -- a cheerleader and the Homecoming queen.\n"She wasn't perfect," Michael Bergin said. "She had an Abercrombie carpet because she never picked up, and she was stubborn. But in a good way. She knew what she wanted and had a lot of drive."\nMichael Bergin said his daughter made good grades in her pre-med focused classes and wanted to become a doctor.\n"She originally wanted to be a vet but decided to help people instead," he said. "I'm sure she would have."\nBergin's ambition came in handy when she was escorting a mentally handicapped family friend to his prom. \n"She made sure he had a great time," Brynn's father said.\nBergin's big heart didn't stop with people. Her father said she always had scratches and cuts from trying to catch wild animals she'd befriended. During the family's recent trip to Florida, she taught her younger cousins to catch frogs.\nBergin was active around campus, attending football and basketball games and had recently joined the Alpha Phi sorority.\n"It came as a huge shock," said senior Karrie Stine, vice president of operations for Alpha Phi. "It's made a huge impact on all of our members."\nSophomore Sara Pallone was in Bergin's pledge class and lived with her in McNutt.\n"She was so outgoing," Pallone said. "She loved to meet new people. You never saw her without a smile on her face."\nStine said the sorority is meeting to plan a memorial service for Bergin but that the event won't occur for a few weeks, since the chapter wants to give the family time before inviting them to Bloomington.\nMichael Bergin said he and his wife Cari, as well as Brynn's three brothers, planted a tree in a local park in her memory and a scholarship is being established in her name. But nothing make up for her family's loss.\n"She was really fun," Michael said, "just a whole lot of fun"