Though a death certificate has been issued for Jahi McMath, many of the 13-year-old Oakland girls classmates still believe the quiet leader who laughed at jokes that weren't funny will one day return to school if they just pray hard enough.

The school told us that shes not officially dead yet, said Dymond Allen, one of Jahi's friends at EC Reems Academy of Technology and Arts in East Oakland. And we should keep her in our prayers. I still hope. And God has the last say-so.

The academy's chief operating officer Lisa Blair said she has tried to honor Jahi's family's wishes by telling students that their classmate may still be alive, even though doctors say she is legally and clinically dead.

The students responded with an outpouring of faith.

Most kids are Christian here, Blair said, and they believe that if you continue praying, theres always a possibility. The students understand the debate. Theyre just choosing spirituality over science.

Blair visited Children's Hospital Oakland on Jan. 5, just after Jahi's family won a court battle to keep the girl on life support and transfer her elsewhere. Blair said she "saw something on that visit that made her believe Jahi, a quiet student who was recently elected to be a judge on student council, was not truly dead.

On Thursday, about 250 of Blair's students donned purple T-shirts emblazoned with the words #TeamJahi and Keep Calm, Pray On.

Parents were given the opportunity to have their child "opt out" of the event, but the vast majority did not, because most of them know her, Blair added.

Jahi has been part of the school's extended family for more than a decade. Jahis older sister, Jabria Milsap, now 20, graduated in 2009 as valedictorian. Her brother, Jose Llamas, is now in fourth grade at the school. Jahi's younger sister, Jordyn Johnson, is in kindergarten.

MORE: Catholic Group Says Jahi McMath "With Jesus Christ"

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Friends say they believe brain-dead girl is alive