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![]() Sunday, May 23, 1999 Published at 04:15 GMT 05:15 UK ![]() ![]() World: Americas ![]() Massacre shadow over graduation ![]() Injured student Lisa Kreutz receives her diploma ![]() Students at Columbine High School in Colorado - where two teenagers shot dead 12 pupils and a teacher - have gone ahead with their graduation ceremony.
They smiled as they marched down the aisle to their seats watched by family and friends.
Two of the those killed would have graduated at the ceremony. Harris and Klebold were also set to graduate, but their names were not mentioned. "Two of the graduating seniors of the Class of 1999 and one of our faculty members are no longer with us. Their lives were cut down too short," Principal Frank DeAngelis said, referring to the two seniors and teacher and coach Dave Sanders. Silent tribute "Their lives were full of courage and hope and enthusiasm and never forget that they loved us as much as we loved them," he said. "Each of us will carry the spirit of Isaiah Shoels, Lauren Townsend and Dave Sanders into the future." People then bowed their head in a moment of silence to remember the victims. Ms Townsend, 18, had planned to attend Colorado State University and study wildlife biology. Her sister and two brothers accepted her diploma and her parents were handed her cap and gown and valedictorian award. Wounded victims Graduate Sara Martin, remembered her friend Cassie Bernall. "I wish that I had had more time and more opportunities to tell her what she meant to me," she said. "I must recognise what I have learned - to love deeply and to appreciate every word and every gesture of every person I love or will love." The audience cheered when three seniors who had been wounded in the massacre, Jeanna Park, Lisa Kreutz and Valeen Schnurr, received their diplomas. And in keeping with tradition, they threw their caps in the air at the end of the two-hour ceremony. ![]() |
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