Five college students in accident enrolled in SWCC music program

Five students enrolled in a community college music program in southwest Iowa were riding back together after the Thanksgiving holiday when their car went out of control, killing the driver. The Iowa State Patrol says the car was heading south on Interstate-35 near Mason City at about 6:30 last night when the 18-year-old driver lost control and over-corrected, going into the shoulder and causing the vehicle to roll six times. Southwestern Community College student services director Bill Taylor says the five students in the car had spent the holiday in Minnesota. The driver of the vehicle — 18-year-old Jessica Hanna Cooper of Santa Rosa, California — was ejected from the vehicle and killed. The four other passengers in the vehicle were all taken to a hospital in Mason City; two have been released. Three of the injured students were from Grand Rapids, Minnesota; the other was from the same California town as the driver. Taylor says all five of the kids in the car were part of the music program at Southwestern Community College in Creston. “Our music program is kind of a very, very close-knit family and they’re relying on each other right now,” Taylor says. “…It is a tough time for us here at Southwestern.”