Survivors of the Sandy Hook shooting will graduate from Newtown High School with mixed emotions, after learning that 20 of their slain classmates will not be able to attend the ceremony with them.
On December 14, 2012, about 60 of the Connecticut high school’s 330 graduating class members were at Sandy Hook Elementary School when a psychopathic gunman opened fire, killing 20 first-graders and six faculty and staff members.
The victims of the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history will be remembered during the ceremony, but it has not been revealed how they will be honored.
“It’s definitely going to have a lot of mixed emotions,” said Emma Ehrens, 17, one of 11 children from Classroom 10 who survived the attack.
“I’m really excited to graduate from high school and move on to the next chapter in my life, but I’m also really sad that I have to walk across that stage by myself. It’s nice to know that they’ll be there with us and walk across that stage with us.”
Ehrens was one of five students who spoke to The Associated Press about the big day and the emotional toll it brings.
Lily Wasilnak, 17, said she thinks everyone is “really looking forward to” graduation.
“But let’s not forget, a large part of our class is missing,” said Wasylnak, who was in a classroom down the hall from the shooting scene.
“We all have mixed emotions as we approach graduation. We’re excited for ourselves and what we’ve worked so hard to achieve, but we’re also worried about those who could have shared it but didn’t.”
Another student, Grace Fisher, acknowledged that Sandy Hook High School graduates did not have a typical school life.
“I tried to have a normal childhood and a normal high school, but it wasn’t completely normal,” Fisher, 18, said.
“But like Lily said, even if a significant percentage of our class doesn’t graduate, we’re still graduating. We want to be normal teenagers walking across the stage that day, knowing how far we’ve come and feeling the celebration in our hearts.”
Students are hopeful that the opportunity to start fresh will provide them with the opportunity to move on to the next chapter of their lives.
“At Sandy Hook, what happened is always hanging over our heads,” said Matt Holden, 17, who was in a classroom down the hall from the shooting scene.
“Even if it means being isolated and away from people who have had similar experiences to us, I think getting away and making new memories and meeting new people will allow us to be more free to write our own story… and not let this one event that happened when we were so young define our lives.”
“For me, it definitely feels like things are getting better and I’m getting out of that system and being able to be myself instead of going back to being that kid at Sandy Hook Elementary,” Ehrens added.
Students have participated in the Junior Newtown Action Alliance and have been working on anti-gun violence activism to prevent other tragic mass shootings.
Ella Seeber, 18, said she hopes to study psychology at university and become a therapist to help others.
“Getting my voice out there and working with all these amazing people to try to make a change really gives meaning to the trauma that we’ve all been forced to go through,” Seeber said.
“This is a way to feel like we’re doing something, because we are. We’re fighting for change, and we’re never going to stop until change is realized.”
With post wire
