Marjory Stoneman Douglas graduation to memorialize students killed in shooting

Students and faculty at a Parkland, Fla., high school where 17 people were killed in a February shooting will honor victims of the attack at the school’s graduation this weekend.

CNN reports that four of the students killed in the attack — Meadow Pollack, Nicholas Dworet, Carmen Schentrup, and Joaquin Oliver — were graduating seniors who would have walked in Sunday’s ceremony.

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Instead, the four will be remembered by students and staff in a ceremony that organizers told the network they hope will end on an upbeat note, despite the tragedy.

“We are going to go through the whole gamut,” Jeff Foster, a teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, told CNN. “It’s going to be sad. We’re obviously going to look back and honor the kids that perished, but then we’re going to try to end it on an upbeat [note] by bringing someone in that’s hopefully going to lift the spirits.”

Seniors will also wear a special sash that reads “MSD Strong” to commemorate the victims. Students who spoke to CNN expressed anger for the unfinished high school careers of their slain classmates.

“It’s just not fair,” Sam Zeif, one of Oliver’s friends, told CNN. “They worked just as hard, if not harder, than us to do this, and they can’t, for no reason.”

“I’ll really just be walking across the stage and being handed a piece of paper,” he added. “It’s just something we got to do. It’s hard to be really excited about it, because not everyone is going to be there.”

Many survivors of February’s shooting participated in the “March for Our Lives,” a national campaign against gun violence that drew tens of thousands of protesters to Washington, D.C., and other cities across the country. Supporters of the movement advocate tougher gun laws in the face of mass shootings, such as the Parkland shooting, that have gripped headlines in recent years.