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Parkland survivors graduate 3 months after school shooting without 6 classmates

"We've had to grow up in a multitude of ways that we never would've had to."

Frank Dale Twitter Updated:
An image tweeted by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student David Hogg (@davidhogg111) on June 3, 2018.
An image tweeted by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student David Hogg (@davidhogg111) on June 3, 2018.

Just over 100 days after a former student murdered 14 classmates and three teachers, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s class of 2018 gathered for its commencement ceremony Sunday:

Families of the four murdered seniors were invited to attend, but only Joaquin Oliver’s parents were present:

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Meadow Pollack’s father, Andrew, said he couldn’t sit through the graduation ceremony after attending the school’s senior prom in May:

“It’s too tough for me,” Pollack told the Sun-Sentinel. “I did enough with the prom. It almost killed me.”

Pollack tweeted about his daughter on Sunday afternoon:

Carmen Schentrup was also among the 17 victims murdered by a former student who entered the school on February 14 with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. April Schentrup shared a photo of her daughter in the cap and gown she would have worn during Sunday’s graduation:

Joaquin Oliver, another victim of the Parkland shooting who would have graduated Sunday, was also remembered on social media:

Nick Dworet, another senior murdered on February 14, had written goals for the rest of his senior year on a white board in his room:

“It had things like ‘grad bash’ … written on it,” Mitch Dworet, Nick’s father, told NBC News. “It started at prom, which was very difficult. Then we got his graduation pictures.”

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School senior Suzanna Barna reflected on preparing for graduation as her community continues to mourn:

“In the past couple of months we’ve had to grow up in a multitude of ways that we never would’ve had to and that we never thought we would’ve had to.”

Senior Christy Ma tweeted about the wide range of emotions that graduates were experiencing:

Senior Leonor Muñoz, who has documented the aftermath of the shooting, tweeted the following remembrance on the morning of the ceremony:

Shortly before graduating, senior Aly Sheehy corrected a CNN tweet about the number of deceased classmates that would be honored during graduation. In addition to the four seniors who were murdered on February 14, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will also honor two students from its class of 2018 who died before the shooting.

Earlier that morning, Marjory Stoneman Douglas teacher Jeffrey Foster sent a message to the class of 2018:

NBC’s Jimmy Fallon made a surprise appearance at the ceremony and thanked the Parkland survivors for “showing me and the whole world that there is hope.”

Seniors Emma Gonzalez, Delaney Tarr, Chris Grady, and Nikhita Nookala shared images of their graduation caps:

Graduation hasn’t slowed the Parkland survivors’ advocacy, as senior David Hogg tweeted the following from Sunday’s ceremony:

Hogg also hinted at a “big announcement” on Monday.

UPDATE: Less than 24 hours after graduating, dozens of the Parkland survivors announced a bus tour that will register young voters across the nation this summer:

The “Road To Change” website says the Parkland survivors will go “to places where the NRA has bought and paid for politicians who refuse to take simple steps to save our lives” and visit “a number of communities that have been affected by gun violence to meet fellow survivors and use our voices to amplify theirs.”