MONTICELLO, Ind. -- A small northwestern Indiana school district is reeling after the sixth student death from a traffic accident in the past 10 weeks.

Sixteen-year-old Taylor Maffett, a junior at Twin Lakes High School, died Sunday after her car hit a tree and utility pole near her home in Monticello, a town of fewer than 6,000 people about 30 miles north of Lafayette.

"The only word to use is 'overwhelming,"' said the Rev. Jeff Messer of Zion Bethel Church, who will officiate at Maffett's funeral service Thursday. "It's very rare for a community this small to have this much tragedy occur."

White Countys' Twin Lakes school district has about 2,500 students, and the high school has an enrollment of about 800. Officials plan to use school buses to take students to Maffett's funeral.

In late September, four special-needs students were killed when their bus collided with two dump trucks. A 7-year-old Meadowlawn Elementary School student died in November after being struck by a minivan.

Students and staff at the high school observed a moment of silence Monday morning to remember Maffett, an honor roll student who planned to attend Purdue.

Twin Lakes Principal Scott Leverenz said school counselors were on hand to talk to students and staff about the crash.

"Our counselors and teachers are just wonderful," he said. "We have had some students that have needed extra help throughout the day, and our counselors were great in helping them as best they could."

The crash is still being investigated by the Monticello Police Department and the White County Sheriff's Department.

"It is just so terribly sad," said Sandy Johnson, a mother of three other students in the district. "I can't imagine what her parents are going through right now ... And for the school, to have this much sadness all at once, is just unbelievable.

"One death is hard for people to take, and two is even worse," said Johnson. "But six, it is hard to imagine at a school this size this could happen."