High school student uses graduation cap to honor school shooting victims

A graduating high school student sought to honor victims of school shootings by pasting a QR code on her graduation cap that displays a full list of those killed when scanned.

Gina Warren, an 18-year-old from Ashville, Ohio, created the QR code, which displays a list of students killed in high schools, starting with the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 and ending with the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting near Denver last week.

“This is mostly about honoring these kids,” Warren told CNN. “I want more than anything to keep their memory alive. But looking at that list, I’m hoping that everyone is touched and sees that there is a serious, serious problem in our country.”

On Twitter, Warren explained in a video how others can scan the QR code. Her phone sends those who scan it to the list, which is titled “I graduated. These high school students couldn’t.” As of Tuesday afternoon, the video has more than 3.7 million views. 

i decorated my graduation cap pic.twitter.com/FBzQ8BTIxo

— Gina (@Gi10eight) May 9, 2019

Warren said her inspiration came from the orange caps that many students created last spring after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., according to CNN.

The caps also displayed a $1.05 price tag, which was calculated by dividing the $3.3 million the National Rifle Association (NRA) spent on Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) campaigns by the 3.1 million public and private students attending schools in the state, according to Vox.

“Their caps were a message to the NRA and lawmakers. I wanted to do something just as powerful but send a message to everyone who saw it,” Warren said.

And at the bottom of her list, she wrote a simple message: “Protect our students. Vote.”