Hundreds of young Uvalde, Texas, residents graduated from high school on June 24, exactly one month after a gunman stole the lives of 19 children and two of their teachers at Robb Elementary School. The ceremony had originally been scheduled for May 27, but was postponed due to the tragedy.
“The heartache was palpable as the community gathered to celebrate the lives and accomplishments of graduating high school seniors,” NBC News reports. But the students also wanted to recognize the children and teachers this community lost by reading their names during the ceremony.
RELATED STORY: Most Latino voters want to see gun violence reform, abortion rights protection
“Love the people in your life while you have them because you don’t know what the future holds for anyone,” said valedictorian Abigail Kone, the report continued. “If I had to pick a theme for today, it’s healing,” Uvalde High School principal Randall Harris said. “Healing is what we all need. It’s what you need. It’s what I need.”
There’s no guarantee that affected Uvaldans are getting the mental health care they need despite promises from Texas governor Greg Abbott, who has dedicated vast sums of taxpayer money to fund his anti-immigrant stunts.
”Mental health organizations are assembling a collection of services to assist those who seek help in Uvalde,” NBC News previously reported. “But there have been hiccups and hitches along the way,” including callers being told that they have to pay for appointments that Abbott had claimed were going to be free.
Residents aren’t even getting the respect of bilingual updates from officials. “Unfortunately, authorities in Texas have only provided information pertaining to the shooting in English and have gone as far as ignoring multiple requests to provide remarks in Spanish, including at press conferences,” lawmakers recently said.
It is a community that will be struggling for a long time, and NBC News reports that the delayed ceremony was still too much for some parents to bear. Javier Cazares, whose daughter Jacklyn was among the Robb Elementary children who died, has a nephew who was among the graduates but did not go. “Why on this day?” he said in the report. “Everything is still so fresh.”
The Texas Tribune reports that some graduating seniors did choose to skip the ceremony, and picked up their diplomas beforehand instead. Gabby Quirova did choose to be there before heading to Texas A&M University-San Antonio.
“’You deserve to walk that stage,’ Gabby’s mom, Ashley Quirova, told her daughter,” the report said. “I don’t want to lose sight of what these kids have accomplished,” the mom continued in the report. “I don’t want to lose focus on these kids who have worked so hard to be where they’re at.”
The Texas Tribune reports that Gabby knew some of the children, including three who died, after teaching at Robb Elementary for a semester as part of her high school coursework. “I saw these little kids so excited to see us and so excited to see a new teacher,” she said in the report.
RELATED STORIES:
Texas is prioritizing anti-immigrant stunts over the well-being of Uvalde residents
Republicans are refusing to stop using racist mass killers' 'invasion' rhetoric