A candlelight vigil was held to celebrate the life of Hardin-Simmons University Sophomore Jessica Rogers. Jessica died in a car accident in August after her car collided with an 18 wheeler near Eastland.

Hundreds of students showed up at HSU's Shelton Stadium Thursday evening to honor Jessica. Jessica's parents traveled from their hometown of Henrietta to attend the event. They said she would have wanted them to celebrate her life rather than mourn her death.

"She was just beautiful inside and out. Loved God, loved her family, loved her friends, there's not a bad word that can describe Jessica," said Jessica's roommate and one of her best friends, Leah Greenfield.

Jessica died just one month before her 21st birthday. Six weeks later, her friends and family said they are still grieving.

"This is a flood of mixed emotions. I mean we're just shredded inside by the loss of our kid," said Doug Rogers, Jessica's father.

Greenfield said she helped put together the vigil so that everyone could have a chance to say goodbye to Jessica.

"A lot of the students here didn't really have a chance to really have that closure and go to the funeral or anything like that. So, this is mainly just for closure and reflection on her life," said Greenfield. 

Jessica's family said they appreciated Thursday's memorial.

"This means more than you can imagine. This has been a really wild roller coaster ride for the last four, five, six weeks," said Doug Rogers.

Jessica had received many awards for her athletic ability while playing volleyball at HSU.