The purpose of this demonstration, which was led by 17 of our student leaders, was to show support and solidarity for the people affected by this incident as a community of love and hope.
“As high school students, we can empathize with the students of Parkland as they are all just normal kids like us,” Fiona Ralph’18 said to her peers. “As Catholic high school students, we can use prayer to ask God to watch over the people of Parkland and see that the victims of the shooting meet God in heaven.”
Students read each of the victims’ names while lighting a candle to symbolize the light their lives brought to the world. The IHA community joined together to say the Prayer of Eternal Rest for each victim.
“We have the power to enact change because: We are students. We have a voice. We are the leaders of tomorrow," Morgan Honor'18 announced. "We have the power to make change and cause policies to be put in place to promote safety in our communities and in our schools. So help be a part of making a change; whether that is registering or pre-registering to vote, contacting your representative, making your voice heard, donating to the Stoneman Douglas Victims Fund, or helping to identify a troubled student that may need emotional support before it’s too late. At the end of the day, it does not matter which political party you support. What matters is that we need to support school safety and security in every way we can. We need to use our voice and our actions to make sure that what happened on February 14 doesn’t happen again. Not today. Not tomorrow. Never again!”
So incredibly proud of and grateful for our students for leading such a beautiful, meaningful prayer service.
Photos courtesy of Mike Hamlett Photography.