By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

GRIEF hung heavy over St Joseph’s Catholic Parish on Thursday as the mother of 16-year-old Madilyn Thompson described how “alive” and full of joy her daughter had been just hours before her fatal fall in Panama earlier this month.

Classmates, teachers and teammates from Saint Augustine’s College filled the church with songs, tributes and tears, remembering Madilyn as bright, gentle and fiercely talented. Her family received a jar of handwritten messages from classmates, a keepsake meant to honour a life cut short.

“She lived. Madi enjoyed life. In Panama, Madi was alive. She really was the life of the party,” her mother, Shenik Thompson, said, recalling her daughter dancing at the convention centre. “She soaked up that atmosphere.”

Madilyn died on November 1 after falling from a hotel balcony in Panama City while attending the 2025 FIRST Global Challenge. Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, citing Panamanian officials, have said the death was accidental. Madilyn’s robotics teammates finished the competition in her honour, placing 71st out of 181 countries.

Terran Nottage, her classmate, said her death felt “unreal.” He remembered her as the quiet force behind their robot’s coding and digital modelling. “Her work was thoughtful. Her ideas, creative. Her contributions, invulnerable and her presence simply irreplaceable,” he said.

He said she “lived with kindness, purpose and grace.”

Classmate Jordyn Lloyd called her their “second teacher,” saying Madilyn made others “feel safe, encouraged, loved.”

The memorial blended heartbreak with celebration. Mrs Thompson traced her daughter’s journey from childhood to a driven young woman who loved God, prayed in Spanish and chased every challenge, from spelling bees to robotics.

“Madi was so loving, so kind,” she said. “She was a helper.”

Mrs Thompson recalled speaking with her daughter’s maths teacher last year, when he mentioned he needed a five-member robotics team and saw Madilyn as a natural fit.

“I said alright, I guess you’re going to find four more kids then,” she recalled. “You already have Madi and so Madi them travelled, and as always, daddy said, ‘you going with them right?’ and I would say ‘ yes, I’m going,’ because at first I was like, Madi gonna be fine and he was like no, you goin.”

She said her daughter loved charity work and travelling, and dreamed of seeing the world, but had little patience for shopping.

Madilyn was also competitive, Mrs Thompson added, noting that her determination to excel showed early, especially in spelling bees after initial setbacks.

Breaking down in tears, she said the family took comfort only in knowing Madilyn “lived a good and faithful life.”