Brookwood Junior High administrator killed on Dan Ryan ‘loved making an impact’

Brookwood Junior High School Assistant Principal Rosia Mitchell, who died Friday after falling out of a vehicle on the Dan Ryan expressway, is being remembered as intelligent, loving and nurturing.

Mitchell began her career as a teacher in 2007 at Brookwood Junior High before becoming the assistant principal four years ago, said her brother Johnnie Mitchell. She was also the basketball coach, he said.

“She loved kids and she loved making an impact on young lives,” Johnnie Mitchell said.

Rosia Mitchell died Friday morning after falling out of the Jeep Wrangler she was driving in the outbound local lanes of the Dan Ryan at 28th Street, said Illinois State Police trooper Jayme Bufford.

Two vehicles hit her without stopping, and the driverless Jeep veered off the highway and hit a concrete median barrier, said Bufford and a spokesperson for the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Johnnie Mitchell said the family was told the investigation into her death is ongoing. He said his sister did not have any medical conditions.

Rosia Mitchell grew up in Ford Heights with three older brothers, Johnnie Mitchell said. She graduated from Bloom Trail High School in 2003, where she played varsity basketball, volleyball and was a member of the student council, her brother said.

She graduated from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2007, where she first studied law but decided to switch to education, Mitchell said. She was a tutor during college, which is when she realized she’d like to be a teacher, he said.

She didn’t have kids of her own, he said, but she made sure to spend quality time with her 10 nieces and nephews. Last month, he said she picked up his children out of the blue and spent the whole day with them.

Rosia Mitchell was a member of the Chi Wrangler Crew, a group of Jeep owners who meet for Jeep outings and to support communities through toy drives, coat drives, parades for cancer patients and other efforts, said Chicago Jeep Union President John Kugler.

She took her first off-roading trip Sept. 18 in Hopkins Park, Illinois and she loved it, Kugler said. He said he will always remember her as a free spirit, intelligent and fearless.

Jeep owners often drive without their doors or roof, Kugler said, so hearing about her accident was felt by the whole community.

“It just breaks us up because we’re close knit and we feel it,” Kugler said. “When she passed away, a part of us passed away.”

On Friday night, after her passing, about 200 Jeeps drove around for about two hours and honked in her honor, Johnnie Mitchell said. On Saturday, the family held a balloon release where about 100 Jeep members came as well as her family, students and co-workers, he said.

Mitchell said what he remembers most about his sister is their competitive nature. Just two weeks ago, he said, the family held its most recent game night and the two of them played dominoes, laughing and joking with each other about each round they played.

The day before she died, Johnnie Mitchell said he took his dog to the park and saw a dog that was similar to his sister’s dog, a golden doodle named Teddy. He video called her to show her the dog, he said.

“The things she loved were kids, animals and her car club,” Johnnie Mitchell said. “You could always find her between the three.”

He said he will remember his sister as a positive person and a teacher who always supported her students.

“Even though she was my little sister, I actually looked up to her in a lot of ways,” he said.