On Jan. 15, the 17-year-old Lynbrook High School student set out for San Francisco with her friends to check out various art schools.

By the end of the evening, though, the Saratoga teenager was dead, the victim of a car crash on southbound Interstate 280 near Farm Hill Boulevard in Redwood City.

Another Lynbrook student, Sherry Hsieh, who was in the car with Chen, was critically injured and is currently recovering at Stanford Hospital. There were two other people in the car—Andy Sze, the driver, and another passenger. Both escaped with minor injuries.

"It is a difficult time for the school," said Mike White, principal of Lynbrook High. White first heard of the accident from a teacher at the school. "She was a great student; she was doing great things. She was involved, and she liked being herself," White said. Chen was an honors student and was a member of the staff of the Epic, her school newspaper.

A CHP spokesman said that the investigation into the accident was still going on. "At this point there is no indication that the accident was alcohol or DUI related," said Christen Oliver, CHP public information officer.

Oliver said that the CHP was looking into the possibility that the driver of the car fell asleep at the wheel. Chen was in a BMW that went off the freeway and hit some trees.

"We were there within 10 minutes of the accident," Oliver said. Chen was taken to nearby Stanford Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 11:45 p.m. on Jan.15.

Her family was not available for comment. Some of her friends at Lynbrook said that the family had requested her friends respect their wishes and not speak to the media.

One of Chen's friends who was in the car during the accident posted a blog about the accident which she later removed. In the blog, she said it was the most terrifying day of her life.

Talking about the drive back from San Francisco, she said everyone in the car was very tired. "Tammy was already asleep and Sherry and I began to slowly fall asleep. Next thing I knew, I felt a big bang in the head," she wrote.

She detailed the minutes and hours right after the accident.

"I just couldn't stop crying. I didn't know how to react to everything and I was really worried about everyone else," she said.

White said his school had arranged for counseling sessions for students throughout the week. "Many of the students do not understand what happened. We are trying to help them deal with the death of a friend," White said.