MEDWAY – One day after police officials determined Colby College student Dawn Rossignol was a homicide victim, residents in her hometown and surrounding communities expressed shock and sadness Friday at the senseless loss of such a bright and promising young woman.

Rossignol’s body was found Wednesday in Oakland, near the Waterville campus.

A high school standout and devoted church member, Rossignol was a well-rounded, responsible individual who truly was a standout in the community, according to Deacon Dan Watson of St. Peter’s Catholic Church in East Millinocket, which she attended. Musically gifted, witty and focused, Rossignol counted family and friends as the treasures in her life, Watson said.

At church, she was a leader in the youth ministry group and served as a lector during Mass and impressed Watson with her “can-do” attitude. Outside church, Rossignol baby-sat for half the children in town, Watson said, including his own.

“There’s a great sense of loss in this community,” Watson said. “We all watched her grow up.”

At East Millinocket’s Schenck High School, where Rossignol graduated valedictorian in 2000, some students who were close to the woman’s family chose not to attend classes on Thursday. Classes continued as usual, but Watson and other clergy were on hand to talk with students and provide counseling, according to Principal Thomas Tetu.

The school will provide a bus on Monday for students who plan to attend the funeral in St. Agatha, Tetu said. Some of the high school’s sports events that were planned to take place that day will be re-scheduled, he said.

Teachers at the school who had Rossignol in class described her as gifted and dedicated, as well as shy. After seeing her move through geometry, algebra, advanced math and calculus during her four years at the high school, math teacher Richard Grant said Rossignol was one of the best students he had seen.

“She was always eager to learn,” Grant said Friday. “It didn’t matter what the subject was. Once she learned it, she knew it.”

In addition to her hard work in the classroom, Rossignol took part in the peer mentoring program, providing tutoring for other students at the high school and middle school level, according to Mindy MacKenzie, who taught her biology, environmental science and anatomy and physiology. A biology major at Colby, Rossignol fed her inquisitive nature during high school by doing extra reading on the latest trends in the science and medical fields, MacKenzie said.

While she was described as quiet during high school, Rossignol had grown into a vibrant and outgoing young woman when MacKenzie saw her during a conference at Colby last summer.

“She had become very vibrant and bubbly and couldn’t wait to tell our teachers [from Schenck] how much she enjoyed it there,” MacKenzie said Friday.

Rossignol was a person who loved life, Watson said.

“She was the kind of girl, that as a father, you wish you had a son eligible to marry her,” Watson said. “She was everybody’s little girl.”

A memorial Mass will be held 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 26, at St. Peter’s Church for those unable to attend the funeral, Watson said.