Ondria Glaze, 36, was killed in a murder-suicide in Philadelphia's Grays Ferry section on Monday, leaving students and staff in disbelief over the tragedy.
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A makeshift memorial has grown outside Glaze's office, while there are plans to make sure her memory lives on at the school.
"Ms. Glaze was like the sweetest person I ever knew," said Kai Sutton, a senior at Olney High School. "Every time you see her, she was always smiling."
Students and staff are grieving the death of their beloved teacher and special education compliance monitor.
"She embodied 'Olney Love,'" said Olney High School Principal Michael Roth. "She was a light everywhere she went. She blessed everyone she came into contact with."
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In her more than 10 years at Olney High School, students say Ms. Glaze felt like family.
"She was, honestly, not even a friend, more like a sister to all of us," said junior Joseph Peralta.
"She truly was a sister to me," added teaching assistant Tim Williams. "It's been very, very difficult this week because I feel like I lost a member of my family."
Students have made a memorial outside her office, where notes, flowers and pictures adorn the wall.
"We didn't organize them. They just did it," said school counselor Shawn Donoghue.
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"This was known as 'the hub.' They would come looking for her and she would always be in there ready to listen to anybody that wanted to come in and talk," said fellow teacher, Kelly Wallace.
The school is now working to create a scholarship in honor of Ms. Glaze, to keep her memory alive.
"We are going to give [it] out every year to a graduating senior who also embodies that light and that love here at Olney school community," Principal Roth said.
A vigil for Glaze will be held at 6:15 p.m. on Monday, May 13.
A GoFundMe has been set up with the goal of establishing a scholarship fund in Glaze's honor.