MENTONE – Fifteen years after her parents were killed in a traffic accident, Tippecanoe Valley High School sophomore Monica Hatfield is taking her life in a positive direction. On June 12, 1998, a pickup, driven by Brandon Robinson, then 18, hit a car driven by Aaron Hatfield, 17, Claypool, at the intersection of Zimmer and Crystal Lake roads in Warsaw. Hatfield and two of his passengers – 16-year-old Heather Florey of Mentone and 12-year-old Tyler Bartley of Claypool – died from injuries suffered in the accident. Monica Hatfield, then 6 months old, and Tiffany Bartley, then 13, suffered critical injuries. Tiffany and Monica survived. However, Monica said, Tiffany was told she would never be able to have children, and Monica had her entire head crushed. She’s missing a piece of her skull on the right side. “I’ve gone through three head surgeries. One on my first birthday. One when I was 8 and one whenever I was 13,” Monica said during an interview Thursday afternoon at home in Mentone. Since she was 2 years old, Monica has spoken about the death of her parents. She started out reading a poem given to her by her grandmother, Pam Hiers, who has raised Monica since her parents were killed. Now she speaks against the dangers of drinking and driving. Robinson had been under the influence of alcohol and marijuana at the time of the accident. “I talk about how I met the guy who killed them, Brandon,” Monica said. Hiers said, “Brandon has turned his life around after two years in prison. He realized not only what he had lost ... He was sentenced to twenty-some years in prison. After about two years of prison, it really hit him not what he had lost so much, but what everyone else had lost. What he had done. And he turned his life around and started giving speeches also.” Robinson is out now, Hiers said, not drinking and telling people how it can affect their lives. Monica and Robinson have became friends. “She was 8 when I took her to the prison,” Hiers recalled. “Brandon wanted to know all about her. At first, all he could do was cry and say, ‘Monica, I’m so sorry.’ She finally said, ‘Please don’t cry. It’s all right.’ And he sat there and wanted to know all about her life. She got up afterwards and told him that she loved him because she forgave him, at 8 years old. And they became best friends. Now they do speeches together.” Recently, Monica was selected to serve as an ambassador with People To People. According to the official website, “People to People was originally established in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, charged with the mission of personal diplomacy and building peace through understanding. In 1961, the nonprofit People to People International joined forces with Ambassador Groups Inc., a specialized group of travel and educational service providers who would develop and deliver extraordinary programs. A year later, the first People to People Ambassador program launched.” People to People sent information out to many students at Valley, inviting them to be a part of the program, Monica said. Hiers took Monica to the meeting about it, even though the cost of the program was several thousand dollars. Only 40 students would be chosen, with only 23 of them from this area, Monica said. Each student wanting to go had to get two teacher recommendations and one from a friend of the family, she said. There was then an interview process, which Monica did over the phone. She was accepted. Hiers said, “They couldn’t just take any teenager. They wanted a teenager that was outstanding so when they went to other countries, the countries would see that American teenagers (aren’t bad).” “We were supposed to represent America in a good way,” Monica interjected. Monica was the only student from Kosciusko County chosen, Hiers said. She left June 19 and got back July 8. “I went to France. In France, while we were in Paris, we got to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Went to the Louvre, Versailles,” Monica said. In Paris, the group didn’t meet up with any officials. In Italy, however, she said they met up with a mayor. On their third stop, in Greece, they did some community service, painting some walls for an upcoming festival. Every day the student ambassadors had to keep a journal of everything they saw and did. The journals were graded ever so often to make sure the students were keeping up with it. Monica “passed” the program and will receive one high school credit. She also can receive college credit if she wants for a cost of about $200. “From each place I got something unique, the actual place. Like in France, I got the beret. The mask from Italy, because they have festivals all the time. They said in the town I stayed in for my home stay, they have a festival on my birthday even,” Monica stated. In Greece, she got a dress like a Greek goddess may have worn. In Italy, she got to stay with a family for three days. The family taught her Italian while she taught them American English. She got to see what their little village was like, and got really close to the family. “While we were in Italy, we got to do our ‘Full On Day.’ It teaches you how to have a mindset where you can get things done and how to think positively and have fun while doing so,” Monica said. One of the things they had the students do was rappel down a castle wall. The castle was on a cliff. They also got to break a board in half with their bare hands. “It was to show us that, even though something seems scary, or is something that you can’t get past, if you have the right mindset, you can,” she said. Looking back at the trip overall, Monica said, “I loved it! Especially Italy. I would do it over and over and over again.” She encouraged other people to get involved. The organizations suggests many ways students can raise money for the 20-day trip, including fundraisers and collecting donations. After high school, Monica plans to attend IUPUI and become a psychologist. She wants to give back to Riley Hospital for Children what they gave to her. Hiers said Riley saved Monica’s life. “I’m very proud of her. She’s been a very special kid to raise,” Hiers concluded.
