RALEIGH - Students at two Wake County high schools struggled Thursday to deal with the loss of a sophomore who died in a traffic accident.

Carol Stamper, 15, an Enloe High School student, was killed Wednesday afternoon when the car she was riding in slammed into a guardrail at 70 mph on the U.S. 264 bypass. The car flipped onto its passenger side and wrapped around a steel sign support, according to Raleigh police spokesman Jim Sughrue.

The driver of the vehicle, Ashley Szymankiewicz, 17, was injured.

Police said she was driving eastbound on the bypass between New Hope and Hodge roads at 2:54 p.m. Wednesday when she lost control of her vehicle, causing it to spin from the middle lane into the left lane. Stamper was pronounced dead at the scene.

Students in Enloe’s theater arts program were particularly shaken, said Ashlie Thompson, an assistant principal at the school. Stamper was very active in drama.

“Those students have had a challenging day,” Thompson said Thursday. “They are in shock and grief.”

Through a school spokesman, longtime Enloe drama teacher Koko Thornton described Stamper as an “incredibly funny and creative” student known for her dedication to the production crew. She also was a talented playwright, Thornton said.

“She was a really happy person,” said Enloe student Elliot Morgan, who rode the bus to school with Stamper.

News of her death quickly reached East Wake High School in Wendell, where some of her former classmates at Zebulon Middle School attend.

“Everyone knew her,” said Sydney Jordan, a sophomore at East Wake. “She was really smart and really nice. … She’d go up to anyone and just shake their hand.”

Szymankiewicz, whose injuries were not life threatening, is being charged with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle and with a safe-movement violation.

The weather was rainy when the accident happened.

Damage to Szymankiewicz’s car was estimated at $15,000.

Stamper is the second Wake high school student killed in a traffic accident in less than a week. Early Saturday, Millbrook High School student Elizabeth Malloy was killed when the car she was riding in ran off a North Raleigh road and struck a tree.

Staff writers Paul A. Specht and Amanda James contributed to this report.