Born in Miami and bound by Harvard Law School in the fall, Alexia Cuyutas Duarte had simple goals for her future. “I want to be the Supreme Court court,” she told her family.
Viable goals for Alexia, Swarthmore College class of 2023 Economics and Politics graduates. Probably most of the epic reach.
“It wasn’t just a good thing. It was amazing. It was an exception,” said her eldest son, Maria Claudia Couutas Duarte.
That was how she set goals for her sister. You will reach higher.
“She’s going to make those things come true,” she said. “Let me do this one thing. I’ll do the most amazing thing possible.”
Alexia and her partner, Swarthmore 2022 graduate Jared Groff, were inseparable.
“I’m really a soulmate,” Maria Claudia said.
The couple began dating third graders at Swarthmore. Groff, 26, was part of a basketball team that reached the NCAA Division III National Championship game during his time at the suburbs University of Pennsylvania. After his research, he was a law school hoper and a paralegal.
Life was good. Then, all of a sudden, it became tragic.
The couple was killed while twin engine Mitsubishi mu-2b was riding a Passover celebration at the Catskills, along with three members of Groff’s family, including parents Michael and Joy, sister Karenna and her partner James Santoro.
Maria Claudia’s voice recalls her reflection on past conversations with her siblings as each grows into the way adult demands and the family’s lives change forever.
“I was telling three of them, ‘Hey, we all need to be together.’ Like our cheerleader sister, we need to be together. The last thing I never imagined was that she would not be there. ”
Recent series of air disasters
The crash of a plane that killed six people on Saturday, April 12th was the third tragedy of the air in the next three days.
Three members of the Palm Beach County Stark family – Robert, 81, son Stephen, 54, and daughter Brookstark, 17, a senior at Atlantic High School in Delray Beach, were on a Cessna 310 heading to Tallahassee. The plane crashed on April 11th near Boca Raton Airport in the area of Military Trail and Greys Road. The driver was injured when the plane hit a car and thrusts it into a railroad track near I-95.
One day before Thursday, April 10th, a family of five from Spain was celebrating their middle son’s birthday next year. They all died when the helicopter was crushed and crashed into the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey. The pilot was also killed.
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The roots of Miami scholars
Alexia Cuyutas Duarte, 24, her brother Maria Claudia, and twin twins Ariana and Constantinos, ages 30 and 21, were born in Miami to an entrepreneurial mother and father who worked in real estate.
For most of her childhood, Alexia lived on the border between Colombia and Venezuela.
“She lived on the Venezuelan side, but she would go to school on the Columbian side and commute to work on the bridge every day,” said her best friend Charlotte Pasco, 23. The turbulent territory and its impact on residents on both sides set a course for ambitious and empathetic young women.
“She wanted to explore the field of immigration law, taking into account her background,” Pasco said. “I’ve never met anyone with such dedication and honor. She was, to be honest, one of the most special people I’ve ever known.”
When relations between the two countries frayed, the bridge was closed and Alexia realized she needed to return to Miami to continue her education, Pasco said.
In 2016, the girl who loved the colours of yellow, photography and everything about Miami – marine life like dolphins and sea turtles, the Miami Heat, and the evolving skyline – moved further through school with her eldest son, Maria.
Alexia attended International Research Charter High School on Southwest 8th Avenue in Miami, attending for her third and fourth graders. She later studied abroad with her best friend Pasco for a year at the London School of Economics, graduating from Swarthmore from Phi Beta Kappa. That’s what prompted her to meet Pasco and to seek a degree in English literature and classics from her youngest sister, Ariana.
The sisters “inseparate,” Maria Claudia said, handing the phone to the youngest tearful Ariana.
“She always had all the answers and was willing to do whatever it needed for her siblings,” Ariana said. “She helped me live my life. She knew exactly what she wanted because it would be. She never wobbled. There was never a moment of hesitation. She knew what to do and did it.”
“She ignored all possibilities,” added Maria Claudia. “She gave 110% to everything she did. Everything. As a friend. As a sister. As a daughter. As a daughter. As a granddaughter. She was always 110%.”
Visiting Miami
Last Christmas, Alexia and Maria Claudia were paired up again, and they went on a trip back to Miami to celebrate their family holiday.
“A house in Miami. She went to college and she came back. She met me in Orlando. I live in Orlando now. Something about that,” Maria Claudia said.
After Alexia completed her undergraduate program in December 2023 and attended the graduation ceremony with Pasko in May 2024, Alexia worked as a legal intake specialist at the Rian Immigration Center in Boston. She lived with her boyfriend Jared and worked as a paralegal for the Pro Bono Initiative Unit in Framingham, Metro West Legal Services, Massachusetts.
The couple’s relationship was idyllic, her sisters and Pasco said. Except for basketball rivalries.
“There was an eternal battle between her and her boyfriend, not just a basketball player, but a huge Boston Celtics fan,” Maria Claudia said. “It didn’t work very well at times.” Alexia was a Miami heat fan.
Alexia had planned to attend Harvard Law School next fall semester. She wanted to pay tribute to the sacrifices her mother made.
“She wanted my mother to know that it was important for her hard work and dedication as a single mother who could go to Harvard law school. She idolized my mom because my mom is amazing,” said Maria Claudia, a mental health counselor who received an advanced degree from Barry University near Miami Shores.
“It was her dream. I always went to Harvard Law from the day I met her, and she accomplished that,” Pasco said. “It’s just heartbreaking that she can’t follow that path she was called to follow.”
Final conversation between friends
The final conversation of my best friend took place within 24 hours of the flight.
“I think I realized through friendship with her, the depth that friendship can reach, and the way people can really know you, around Brickell, Miami.
“For a week we were talking about what we were trying to wear, how we were nervous, how we couldn’t wait to meet other students,” Pasco said. “And that Friday, the night, we briefly summarise how our days happened, how we couldn’t do it to each other, and we said we were going to call on Saturday to really talk about what happened to everything.
“And obviously, that call never happened.”
Survivors
In addition to her sisters Maria Claudia and Ariana, survivors of Alexia Cuuiuttah Duarte include her brother Constantinos. Mother Claudia Duarte Garcia. Grandmother Lolita; aunt, uncle, cousin, friend.
The service will be private, but her sister said she would like to hold a commemorative ceremony at the beach in Miami at a later date. “She loved the beach,” Maria Claudia said.
