Freshman Christina Koutsoukos, a pre-medical student, talented photographer and dependable friend, died after a car accident Sunday. She was 18.
“She was full of laughter; she loved to sing and dance and jump around; she was a pleasure to always be around,” said Donna Marinucci, Koutsoukos’ mother. “She just had a very happy soul.”
Koutsoukos was in the passenger seat of a Dodge Viper when it struck a cement wall on Travilah road at about 3 p.m., according to a Montgomery County Police report. Her boyfriend, 21-year-old Brandon Bussard, was driving the car and survived with injuries.
Medics transported Koutsoukos to a hospital by helicopter with life-threatening injuries. She died at the hospital. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
“She had so much going for her: her photography, her art, and she was going for school for what she wanted,” said Ryann Maslen, one of her best friends from high school.
Koutsoukos, from Gaithersburg, attended Quince Orchard High School, where she was an honor roll student and took many Advanced Placement courses. She wanted to become a pediatrician, Marinucci said.
“Her photography was her dream. Just looking through the lens, that was her favorite thing to do,” Marinucci said. “She took beautiful pictures.”
One of her photos that won an AP Portfolio award was hung up in the halls of her high school this summer, Marinucci said. But the things most important to Koutsoukos were her family and her friends.
“Christina and I butted heads all the time, but if I needed her she’d be there. That wasn’t just for me, that was anyone,” said Maslen, who often visited her in her College Park. “She had that mother hen mentality.”
Another longtime friend, Towson University sophomore Austin O’Connor, said Koutsoukos was the person he could most trust and count on.
“I could always go to her,” O’Connor said. “I felt like an older brother to her, in a way. I can honestly say she’s pretty much the only person who knows my entire life and everything I’ve been through. … That’s how welcoming she is.”
Her younger cousin, Nina Cordaro, 17, said the two of them were best friends since they were little. They often spent time together on the weekends — going to church at Holy Rosary Church in Washington, getting dinner or just hanging out.
“She loved visiting abandoned places and going on walks in the woods, and I’d always go,” said Cordaro, who attends Sherwood High School. “It was always an adventure with her. … She was kind of like a girl that lived in the moment.”
Freshman Samantha Walker, who was Koutsoukos’ roommate in Elkton Hall, said she remembered being so excited to find out that Koutsoukos loved to sing as well.
“We would record ourselves harmonizing in the dorms,” Walker said. “If we would both be in the showers at the same time, we’d sing, and that was one of the best memories I have with her.”
Christina is survived by her mother; her father, George Koutsoukos, and her sister, Stephanie Koutsoukos. The family will hold a viewing Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and again from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at St. Raphael Catholic Church in Rockville, where Koutsoukos was once an altar server. The funeral will be Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at the same church. In lieu of flowers, the family asks mourners to consider a donation to the Holy Rosary Church Altar Society in Koutsoukos’ memory.
Students who need support dealing with the loss can request to be seen as an emergency walk-in appointment between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Counseling Center or request an individual therapy session. The center also offers Memory Circle on Thursdays from 3:45 to 5:15 p.m. to help students deal with a recent loss, Counseling Center Associate Director David Petersen wrote in an email.
“If you ever got to meet her, there’s one thing everyone always recognized about her. … Her beautiful smile,” O’Connor said. “I feel like she’s still smiling.”
Maslen said Koutsoukos will be missed by many.
“I can’t put into words how devastating this is,” she said. “She was a huge part of my life. She meant so much to me and so much to everyone else. She’s this shining light.”
