EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The “No Bummer Summer” movement was created to keep the youthful spirit of native El Pasoan Esme Barrera alive after she was murdered over a decade ago.

Esme’s friends describe her as a joyful soul would spread her spirit and kindness wherever she went.

On New Year’s Eve in 2012, Esme was brutally murdered in her home in Austin, with a motive that to this day has not come into light.

Despite her tragic end of life, her friend Kerissa Bearce did not want to let that define Esme’s legacy.

Esme was a teacher in Austin and used to be a girl’s rock camp counselor, always radiating a youthful energy, according to her friends.

The same year of Esme’s passing, Bearce created her first No Bummer Summer list; a punch card full of activities for kids and adults to do over the summer.

“She was always saying: ‘no bummer summer, no bummer summer.’ It was like her mantra when it was about to be summertime,” Bearce recalled.

Bearce now creates different lists every year and sends them out to whoever requests one as well as making them available online.

“People can all celebrate Esme through like doing a bunch of stuff that you don’t normally do as an adult,” Bearce said.

KTSM’s assignment manager Andra Litton was also Esme’s friend and she’s been checking off the No Bummer Summer list with her 14-year-old son since it started.

“You forget that feeling of like, you know, like summer crushes and things that are, like, so exciting for the first time. That’s how she lived. Every single day was like, everything was the first time,” Litton said.

She remembers Esme as a great friend and someone who loved life and cherished the people who were in it.

“I love that we do this every year because it’s always going to be 29. She never got to be 30. She never got to grow up. She never got to have a family. And I don’t ever want her life to be defined by those last few minutes of her life,” she said.

Litton shared, just as she was getting ready for the interview about Esme, that she received an email about the YouRock! Girls’ Rock Camp that will start this summer.

The idea for this camp came from local musician Jim Ward from the band Sparta, who wanted to create the camp in Esme’s name.

“It’s sort of an idea that floated around to start it in El Paso. One, because obviously because that’s where Esme is from and where we are from, and we just kind of thought that that would be a good jumping off point for what we think maybe would be beneficial in our community. And also help keep Esme’s memory alive in a positive way,” Ward said.