Despite all these interests and skills, Shah said that she was extremely modest.

She was also the type of person who was very devoted to those people who were her friends.

“There are not many people like her,” Ahmed said. “She makes friends very easily and makes really good friends.”

Raman said that the enormous crowd that attended the memorial service for Surti, which was held June 18 in Pittsburgh, demonstrated just how many lives she affected through her friendly nature.

“Harvard is a better school for her having come and our lives are better,” Raman said.

Friends of Surti indicate that many of their last memories of her are their goodbyes made after commencement. Raman said that Surti mentioned then how she did not want those goodbyes to be permanent, but her untimely death a week later makes them just that.

Fonseca also said that her last memory of Surti was from commencement.

“My last image of Haley was in the sunshine at graduation, of her walking across the Mather stage in robe and sandals, to receive her diploma, while all her friends and family clapped and cheered,” said Fonseca.