Kirstyn Katherine Ahuero was a shy yet outgoing individual who found her passion in helping others.
Growing up in Glen Rose, Kirstyn was raised a Longhorn with her father, Khristopher, graduating from the University of Texas, though after hearing about his experience at a Texas A&M football game, Kirstyn ultimately decided to hang up her burnt orange jersey for a maroon and white one.
“I think I had an influence with [her decision to come to A&M] a slight amount because I used to tell her how much fun it was going to an A&M game as a child,” Khristopher said. “It was such a good time that I memorized the fight song and I still remember it to this day.”
Although she was quiet, Kirstyn is remembered for her humor, bringing laughter to those around her.
“She had a very dry sense of humor and with perfect timing, comedic tim[ing],” Khristopher said. “She always hit the nail on the head at that perfect moment.”
Graduating valedictorian of her class at Brazos River Charter School, Kirstyn decided to pursue biomedical sciences, although she was in the process of switching her major to allied health.
Kirstyn was very interested in learning more about the university beyond what is known on the surface.
“She loved everything about A&M,” her mom, Sherie said. “On her own, she wanted to know more about A&M. She wanted to know everything. So on her time off, she would go around campus and just absorb all the historical things from the statues to the hidden areas that she would read about.”
Kirstyn thought College Station was a perfect fit size-wise, providing a hometown feel.
“That’s exactly what she found when she got there,” Sherie said. “Especially with her church group that she became a part
of, they were just like family. Just in her freshman year, she said it was the best group of people that she has ever met.”
During her freshman year, Kirstyn met some members of Fellowship Church on A&M’s campus while they were having worship and later joined the group for weekly worship and hangouts. Homegroup leader Sam Baker said although Kirstyn was quiet at first, she began to open up to the group.
“It was a real joy to see her start to open up as she felt loved, and start to really confide in us about some of the harder things that she was walking through,” Baker said. “We had the opportunity to get to know her as she opened her heart to us, and it was really beautiful.”
Kirstyn quickly became an active member of Fellowship Church who helped to create a space for more reserved students, Baker said.
“She very quickly became a very safe person for other people that were feeling overwhelmed sometimes by the size, or just the busyness of events,” Baker said. “As a more reserved person, she opened up and let people see pieces of her heart and made it feel very safe for them to kind of reciprocate that.”
During the summer of 2021, Kirstyn completed training and began work for HelpLine through A&M’s Counseling & Psychological Services, where she pursued her outgoing spirit.
“[Through joining HelpLine she was] following into her passion for suicide hotline and mental illness,” Sherie said. “She was very passionate about that. And some of that stems from her own struggles that she went through herself.”
Both her parents and members of her church group said they knew she discovered her main passion in life when she began working with HelpLine.
“She really came alive in a different way, we saw her just kind of light up whenever she had the opportunity to get involved with the helpline that she was helping with,” Baker said. “She found a real sense of calling and purpose in being able to give back and help other people who are also struggling.”
After joining HelpLine, Kirstyn began pursuing her passion of becoming a psychiatric nurse.
“One of the things that I really admire about Kirstyn was her tenacity,” Baker said. “She fought for hope, in her own life, she fought for hope in other people’s lives. She fought to accomplish the things that she didn’t think, or the people around her didn’t think, that she could do.”
Following Kirstyn’s death, her parents have advocated for COVID-19 safety measures for college students.
“I wish things could have been different, especially with the university and how they started off school this year. I really believe that they should have been doing COVID[-19] testing way before the timeframe that they gave,” Sherie said. “That’s one thing I have been trying to do is bring about that awareness and how the university needs to change that so not another student goes through the same thing that my daughter did.”