A memorial made for Alaina Dildine outside the doors to the band department at Whiteland Community High School on Wednesday. Dildine died Tuesday from an apparent drowning in the school pool.
Daily Journal File Photo
The 15-year-old Whiteland student who died at the high school’s pool earlier this month died from drowning after having a seizure, officials said Tuesday.
Alaina Dildine’s official cause of death was released by the Johnson County Coroner’s Office on Tuesday afternoon. The manner of death was determined to be accidental, according to the news release.
Earlier this month, school officials said they believed Dildine died of an apparent drowning at 11:45 a.m. May 16 during physical education class in the pool area of Whiteland Community High School. She was reportedly swimming laps with other students during class when she went under the water near the bulkhead that divides the pool from the diving end. There was a lifeguard and a teacher on the pool deck at the time of the incident, Clark-Pleasant Superintendent Patrick Spray said.
The incident is still under investigation by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Duane Burgess told the Daily Journal Tuesday.
In an obituary posted a few days after Dildine’s death, her family described her as a spirited, beautiful girl “with a smile for everyone she met.” She also enjoyed learning and completed the summer reading program every year at the library, the obituary says.
“Alaina was a wise soul who wanted to make sure everyone knew they were special,” the obituary says. “She lived by the quote signed at the end of her emails, ‘don’t let yesterday change the way you see tomorrow.’”
