«You are not just the future. You are the present. Keep changing the world. Keep making us proud.»
SUNRISE, Fla. — The senior class from the Parkland, Florida, high school where a gunman killed 17 people in February received diplomas Sunday and heard from commencement speaker Jimmy Fallon, who urged graduates to move forward and “don’t let anything stop you.”
Four families were to receive diplomas for loved ones who were slain in the attack that gave rise to a campaign by teens for gun control.
Principal Ty Thompson underscored the honors to the dead students in a tweet.
“Remember those not with us, and celebrate all the successes the Class of 2018 has brought to the community and the world!” Thompson tweeted.
The “Tonight Show” host offered similar praise, saying, “You are not just the future — you are the present. Keep changing the world. Keep making us proud.”
In a video of his commencement address, Fallon joked that the students soon “won’t be classmates any more. You’ll be adults who will Facebook search each other at 2 in the morning for the next 10 years.”
Turning more serious, he said, “First thing is this: when something feels hard, remember that it gets better. Choose to move forward. Don’t let anything stop you.”
The private ceremony for the nearly 800 members of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School class of 2018 was being held at the BB&T Center, where the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers play.
It was moved to the arena to accommodate the expected large crowd. Reporters were not permitted inside the arena.
Fourteen students and three staff members died in the Feb. 14 attack. A former Stoneman Douglas student, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, is charged with their deaths and the wounding of 17.
His attorneys have said he will plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life without parole. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Some parents of slain students said they would not attend graduation.
Andrew Pollack, the father of Meadow Pollack, said he’s too emotionally spent to attend the ceremony.
Meadow’s brother, boyfriend and cousins were to accept her diploma. Her brother, Hunter Pollack, made his feelings about the day known on Twitter.
“Today is the day my sister has been waiting for. Graduation where she would’ve been getting her diploma and be on her way to attend college. This is a sad day, as I will be walking stage to get her diploma for her,” his post says.
Andrew Pollack has been an outspoken critic of school and law enforcement officials, saying they failed to protect his daughter and the others, but that’s not why he’s staying away.
“It has nothing to do with them,” Pollack told The Associated Press by phone Sunday. “I’ve just been dead inside since Feb. 14.”
Instead, he’s headed to central Florida where this week he will address the armed guards one district has hired for its schools.
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, the SunSentinel reported.
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