[url]http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/05/18/columbine.graduation.ap/index.html[/url]
CNN.com - Last Columbine class in massacre graduates - May 18, 2002
Last Columbine class in massacre graduates
LITTLETON, Colorado (AP) -- Bonded by tragedy, the last class of students
who were at Columbine High during the 1999 bloodbath is graduating, going
out into the world with a heavier burden of sorrow than most teen-agers
will ever know.
About 450 seniors were to get their diplomas Saturday during the
commencement at an amphitheater off campus.
"It's bitter that this is the last class because we shared a bond with
each other. But it's sweet because we made it through together," said
19-year-old Craig Scott, who three years ago huddled under a table in the
library as student gunmen killed his sister and 12 others. "We are living
proof that tragedy will not prevail."
At the graduation ceremony, Sean Graves, who spent most of his high school
years in a wheelchair because of his wounds, will walk across the stage to
receive his diploma.
The Class of 2002 will also remember two classmates who were killed,
Steven Curnow and Daniel Rohrbough, and two students who were killed
during an unsolved shooting at a sandwich shop in 2000.
On April 20, 1999, Scott was studying in the library when students Eric
Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire. Two friends who hid with Scott under
a table died. His sister Rachel was killed outside the school.
"Rachel's legacy has impacted more people's lives than the negative impact
of Eric and Dylan," Scott said. "I've seen so much good happen from
Columbine. As you go through something hard and still try to do what's
right, you come out on the other side with compassion."
Scott took a year off after the attack to heal.
Authorities believe Harris and Klebold were angry because they were
bullied by athletes. Since the attack, Scott and others said some of those
clique lines have been blurred because people are more sympathetic and
more reflective.
"All you have to say is 'that day' and people know what you mean," Scott
said.
Student body president Jennifer Allen, 18, said: "We had to learn the
effect of losing a life and a loved one and going back to the place where
it all happened."
Around the school, a new fire alarm with a different sound than the one
that went off during the attack was installed. Chicken teriyaki, served
that day, is no longer on the cafeteria menu. And balloons are banned in
the building because they sound too much like gunfire when they pop.
About half of the school staff has left, partly because of retirements but
partly because of the shootings, Principal Frank DeAngelis said.
DeAngelis said the seniors watch out for one another because of what they
went through.
He pointed to the aftermath of a food fight in February in which four
students were arrested. Some students who believed administrators had
overreacted stuck up for their schoolmates. Another group sent an
apologetic letter to DeAngelis. He said he was proud of both groups.
"There was no quit in them," the principal said. "I just feel so badly
that they were forced to grow up so quickly."
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