Friends of Shen remember her for the way she lived -- her free spirit, her ability to make everyone around her smile and feel good, her extreme kindness, and her "giving" nature.  When it became known what had happened to Shen, the Poehlman household immediately became filled with teenagers.  Words that were used to describe Shen were "joyous, funny, good-natured, generous of heart and spirit, and a person with a social conscience who really cared for others. The list goes on.

        Shen believed in giving of herself to others in need. At graduation, she received a meritorious service certificate for donating 163 community service hours. This was twice what her school required.  One of the places she volunteered was the Sykesville Eldercare Nursing Home.  She wrote in a school essay that she enjoyed working with and cheering up the elderly residents.

         In life and now in death, Shen is a role model for her peers. The Assstant Principal of her school encouraged the grieving students to look at Shen's life and rely on her strength when dealing with problems.
 

        Shen's friends appeared to be dazed and in shocked disbelief long after the grim news first filtered through the community.  The general consensus was that this was truly a life that had unlimited potential.

        Shen had a way of  keeping things in their proper perspective. "Shen was the only person I knew who, after failing a test or losing a game or even breaking a bone, would say,"OK, well, I'll get over it," her friend Emily Steward said. "She just had a great spirit for life."

        Shen and her friend Lauren Tupis had been planning to attend a concert the night before the funeral was held. "From the moment we met, we were inseparable."  She added, "Apart, we were lost."

        Jessica Shardoff found some comfort in the conversation she had with Shen when they went their separate ways the night before Shen died.  It was the last conversation Jessica was to have with Shen. "I said, 'Goodbye, sweetie, I love you.'  And she said, 'I love you, too.' Although it was a tragic ending, at least it was a happy goodbye."

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