Top Alcohol Dragster racer Mia Tedesco graduated from Franklin Regional Senior High School two years ago but a recent incident took her back there in a bad way. On the Wednesday before she was scheduled to race at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, Tedesco, along with the rest of the country, watched in horror as details emerged about a stabbing rampage at her former high school where a 16-year old student was alleged to have committed four counts of attempted homicide, 21 counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a weapon on school grounds.

“I woke up and saw the news and it made my heart and stomach drop to think that at a place where you felt so safe such bad things can happen,” said Tedesco. “My first instinct was to call my parents to make sure my sister was all right.”

Tedesco’s younger sister, Natalie, is an 18-year old senior at Franklin. Through fate and quick thinking, educators were able to successfully flee the tragedy by running back up the stars she was initially walking down.  

“She was walking down the steps to where the stabber was when one of the kids pulled the first alarm and she ran back up the stairs,” said Tedesco. “She got really lucky that she wasn’t involved in it.”

The news gave her mixed emotions. She was relieved to hear that her sister was okay, but sad for those not as fortunate.

“After hearing that my sister was all right lifted some of the weight off my shoulders but I still knew a lot of the kids that were involved in it and it’s just such a sad thing to go through,” Tedesco said. “I feel so bad for those kids because now it’s going to be tough for them to get up every day and go to that place and feel safe, and that’s what school should be.”

Tedesco, who still races Super Gas in addition to Top Alcohol Dragster, has aspirations of racing Top Fuel dragster. She is racing in honor of those twenty teens and one adult wounded. While it might be hard to focus on racing in the aftermath of the tragedy, Tedesco said she used the incident as a motivational tool to honor her fallen friends and former classmates.

“It’s actually kind of motivating just because I want to do good for my school and my home town and bring something back to them,” said Tedesco.  “Hopefully this lifts their spirits and shows them that I’m out here trying to support them and it’ll be all right. We’ll get through it. It’s motivating for me.”

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