Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
GRADUATES MOVE INTO A WORLD THEY’VE CHANGED
Tragedy “doesn’t define us. Let it motivate us.”
SUNRISE – The graduates of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School walked across the stage with pride but also pain on Sunday, vowing to never forget the 17 Eagles they lost on Feb. 14.
“Remember those not with us, and celebrate all the successes the Class of 2018 has brought to the community and the world!”
Those words, in a tweet posted Sunday by Ty Thompson, the principal of the Parkland school, captured the bittersweet tenor, both the joy and the sorrow, of Sunday afternoon’s Class of 2018 graduation ceremony at the BB&T Center
in Sunrise.
This was a ceremony of tears and promise, an emotional ride for students and parents, but one that came with a warm reminder that the Stoneman Douglas family is one.
“We will never forget our fallen Eagles,” Julia Cordover, senior class president, told the crowd. “They will always be in our thoughts and in our hearts. Our struggle is part of our story. It doesn’t define us. Let it motivate us.”
Slain senior Joaquin Oliver’s mother got rousing applause as she walked on stage to accept her son’s diploma wearing a bright yellow shirt that said: “This should be my son.”
The other three seniors killed in the Feb. 14 shooting — Nicholas Dworet, Meadow Pollack and Carmen Schentrup — should have been there too. Loved ones and friends accepted their diplomas.
Teacher Scott Beigel, coach Aaron Feis and coach Chris Hixon were each honored with the school’s Eagle Award.
“Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon stunned the crowd with a surprise appearance as guest speaker. Students, teachers and parents cheered as Fallon took the stage Sunday afternoon, then took to Twitter to post photos and videos of his speech.
Fallon has been a staunch supporter of the Stoneman Douglas student activists since the Feb. 14 shooting and praised the students on his late-night show. He is one of several celebrities who participated in the March for Our Lives demonstration in Washington, D.C., and sponsored buses for other activists.
“My wife and I brought our two little girls because we wanted them to see what hope and light looks like,” Fallon told the graduates.
Fallon had some funny advice too: Lay off the carbs and stay on your parents’ wireless plan for as long as you can.
He commended them for their strength and courage after the shooting — and offered words of hope.
“Every bad experience can have something good come out of it,” he said. “You guys have already proved that. You took something horrific — instead of letting it stop you, you started a movement, not just here in Florida but around the whole world. The whole world has heard your voice and that was you making a choice. And that was you choosing hope over fear.”
Before Fallon left the stage, he gave the 764 graduates a final piece of advice: “You’re not the future,” he said. “You’re the present. You are changing the world. So keep changing the world and keep making us proud.”
The commencement marked the end of a school year beset by the heartbreaking horror of the Feb. 14 mass shooting.
While grief continues to overwhelm many, the community has a clear sense of pride in the student-led demands for gun control that grew into the national Never Again movement.
“Let’s be the generation that sees a problem and fixes it,” Sabrina Fernandez, student government president, said in her speech. “Our country is rooting for us ... our country is depending on us.”
Students, parents and teachers tweeted photos and shared their thoughts Sunday.
April Schentrup, whose daughter Carmen Schentrup was among the 17 killed in the shooting, posted a photo of Carmen wearing her graduation gown and cap.
“For me, it is too painful to celebrate w/o Carmen,” she said in the post. “But I am proud of Carmen’s friends & classmates on their accomplishments. They’ve overcome so much. I know they will cont to make positive changes.”
Before the ceremony ended and the last student had crossed the stage, Principal Thompson promised all the students gathered before him a “hug pass” for life.