A pall hung in the hallways of the Seneca Valley School District as the year wound to a close.

The district had suffered a disproportionate share of student deaths during the year, including at least three suicides, leaving students and staff stunned and spiritless at a time when they might have been counting down the days to a carefree summer.

Instead, Maggie Campbell's friends were designing bracelets to memorialize her and tacking flowers to her locker, lurching through classes after the eighth-grader took her own life in May. The honor student and soccer player had complained of rampant bullying in the days before her death.

"It's been hard wondering, could I have done something?" said Maggie's friend, freshman Megan Gaus. Megan joined other students, parents, and Seneca Valley community members last night at a prayer vigil in Zelienople, held as a reprieve from a school year's worth of grief.

For two hours at Harmony Zelienople United Methodist Church, amid a backdrop of soft rock music, the group sang and prayed for healing throughout the district -- and for a generation of young people that many said has grown selfish and cold.

"This is a tough time we've been through this year," said worship leader Melissa Bungar, opening the vigil. "It left the community scratching their heads, saying, what do we do?"

Without mentioning them by name, the group mourned the students, at least two of whom died in car crashes. They prayed no others would be put in harm's way.

"These kids are young but they're being bombarded by pop culture," said Randy Pfeifer, a library aide at Seneca Valley Intermediate High School. In their prayers, many said the influence of pop culture and mainstream media has been damaging, and they hoped students would not lose sight of their priorities.

Crystal Toczek, a 2005 Seneca graduate, experienced the deaths of several classmates when she was in school and felt compelled to lead the service. "It was life-shattering," she said of the deaths. "It rocked my world."

During the vigil, Megan Wesley, another friend of Maggie's, said she hoped her classmates were watching over the school, keeping other students safe. She and several other friends came to the service wearing purple shirts with penguins on them -- silkscreened replicas of Maggie's favorite shirt. "It has been a really tough year," she said. "We miss her terribly."