The Belvidere High School gym will host 16-year-old Connor Barbaro's funeral.
It will be some time before Belvidere High School returns to a sense of normalcy.
Classes have resumed instruction, but will be cancelled Thursday as the gymnasium hosts the funeral for a junior who died last week in an ATV crash.
"It's been a rough couple of days," Principal Ed Lazzara said Tuesday.
The Belvidere High School community is mourning the death of Connor Barbaro, a two-sport junior. (Jim Middlekauff | lehighvalleylive.com contributor)Connor Barbaro, a popular 16-year-old dual-sport athlete from White Township, suffered fatal head injuries Friday night when he drove an ATV onto Route 46 and was struck by a pickup truck, according to New Jersey State Police and the Lehigh County Coroner. He was not wearing a helmet, state police said.
The high school will be dismissed early Wednesday so students and staff can attend a viewing, to be held 1 to 3 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at MacFadden Funeral Home, 325 Hardwick St., Belvidere.
A viewing will also be held Thursday at the high school gymnasium an hour before the start of the 11 a.m. funeral. Lazzara said 500 to 1,000 people, possibly more, are expected at the service.
Connor played soccer for the Warren United Strikers, the Independence Tornadoes and the West Jersey Soccer Club, according to his obituary. He was on Belvidere High's varsity soccer and basketball teams.
Two weeks ago, he scored a career-high 20 points in a basketball game against Hackettstown, the same night the high school dedicated its gymnasium to a former coach and superintendent.
Students and the community are devising ways to honor Barbaro, also known as "Babs."
Within a day, a makeshift memorial had set up at the crash site.
Students wore white on Monday, an idea devised by Barbaro's friend Matt Gallagher, who started the hashtag #whiteforbabs on Twitter.
White out for Connor! pic.twitter.com/rE0CrjVAe6
-- Ed Lazzara (@principallazbhs) March 7, 2016
Some are working on T-shirts, and an idea for a 3-on-3 basketball tournament has been floated, Lazzara said.
"A lot of students want to do these things," he said.
Quaker Steak & Lube in Pohatcong Township is organizing a benefit night from 5 p.m. to closing March 28 in which a percentage of overall food sales will be donated for a use to be determined by the family, said manager John Galya. The Route 22 restaurant is also donating 200 pounds of wings for the memorial services.
'Everyone knew Connor,' grieving peers say
The staff there got to know Barbaro and his friends from their weekly wing night stops, Galya said.
"He was a fan-favorite among the staff," he said. "We just felt it was right to honor somebody who was a regular here."
Lazzara said the benefits and fundraisers are tentatively planned to feed a scholarship fund to be established in Barbaro's name. Those details will eventually be discussed between the district and Barbaro's family when the time is right, he said.
Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.