JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - At first, students at Sandalwood High School thought someone was playing a cruel hoax, then they learned the truth: All 700 of the school's yearbooks were ruined when a truck carrying them went off a bridge.
The driver of a tractor-trailer truck was wrapping up his deliveries last week when he had to swerve to avoid hitting a pickup truck. That sent his truck over a retaining wall and 20 feet down into a marsh near the Intracoastal Waterway.
The driver survived, but a year's worth of Sandalwood memories didn't.
Student yearbook editor Whitney Bennett and his staff initially thought the whole thing was a joke, one of Principal Bill Gesdorf's funny pranks. He had already made a joke about the prom being canceled that got students in an uproar.
Some seniors are holding out hope the reordered yearbooks will arrive before school lets out, but Bennett said there is no way. The seniors' last day is Friday.
Thanks to some quick thinking on part of the yearbook company, which sent over inserts of blank pages that can be taped into the yearbooks when they arrive, students will be able to get the autographs and thoughts of their classmates before class lets out.
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