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The Santa Fe High School seniors gathered in the school football field to become the school’s first to graduate since two substitute teachers and eight fellow students died in a mass shooting May 18.
A 17-year-old student identified as the shooter is being held on capital murder charges.
The 328 graduating seniors, wearing white stoles in tribute to those slain, and their well-wishers viewed a montage tribute to the slain students and teachers on the stadium’s video display board. “The events of May 18” referred to Speeches by school principal Rachel Blundell, valedictorian Corrigan Garcia and salutatorian Bailee Dobson referred to “the events of May 18.”
Blundell reassured the seniors that surviving such a trial equips them with the strength and courage to cope with the challenges that will come later in life. “Great leaders and great nations have emerged out of the ashes of some of the greatest tragedies,” she said.