Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Seniors at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School grieve the loss of friends while navigating tough life decisions.
Shooting memories linger for Parkland high school
PARKLAND, Fla. — When a gunman killed 17 people at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February, senior Chris Grady was slogging through his final few weeks before reporting for duty in the Army.
The slight, wavy-haired 19-yearold wanted to do his part to protect troops fighting overseas, he said. But now bullets were tearing through his own school.
As they prepare to graduate on Sunday, the Parkland seniors are grieving the loss of friends while navigating tough life decisions. For many, the months since the shooting have been a blur of funerals, marches, voter-turnout events, television interviews and brushes with celebrities. Today Grady spends the bulk of his time as an advocate. He is part a student group that organized the March for Our Lives in Washington, and he’s helping shape the direction of that group’s movement.
“I made a commitment to this country that I take seriously, but how can I commit to protect people abroad when they’re getting shot in their classrooms at home?” said Grady, who in May withdrew his application from the Army.
For others, a college path is a way to honor their fallen friends.
Senior Tyra Hemans, 19, received an acceptance letter from Pace University in New York the same day her friends were killed. She was tight with shooting victims Joaquin “Guac” Oliver and Meadow Pollack.
Her college acceptance should have been marked by jumps for joy. Instead, Hemans felt numb.
But she decided to go, realizing that college and many milestones of her life will be tinged with loss.
“When I go to college, it’s going to be for Guac and Meadow, and when I walk the (graduation) stage, I’m walking for them. When I get my first job, that’s Guac’s first job, that’s Meadow’s first job,” said Hemans, who wants to study business management and become a sports agent.