Sandy Hook survivors set to graduate from high school

NEWTOWN, Conn. (WFSB/AP/Gray News) - They survived one of the deadliest school shootings in American history.

On Wednesday, brave Sandy Hook survivors graduate high school. The victims will be honored during the ceremony, but details have been kept under wraps, the Associated Press reported.

Matt Holden was in the classroom down the hall from the shooting.

He is among about 60 Sandy Hook survivors graduating and continuing to carry an emotional burden as they start their next chapter.

“It’s not a trauma you can ever lose,” said Holden.

He said he is often reminded that 20 of his friends and classmates were taken quickly and violently in a cruel act that has led to years of unbearable trauma for survivors.

“You’ll see maybe an empty desk in your class, it’s the small things where you know someone should be there and they’re not,” he said.

Emma Ehrens was one of 11 children from Classroom 10 to survive the attack, the Associated Press reported. She and other students managed to flee when the gunman paused to reload and another student, Jesse Lewis, yelled for everyone to run. Jesse didn’t make it. Five kids and both teachers in the room were killed.

“I am definitely going be feeling a lot of mixed emotions,” said Ehrens, 17. “I’m super excited to be, like, done with high school and moving on to the next chapter of my life. But I’m also so ... mournful, I guess, to have to be walking across that stage alone. … I like to think that they’ll be there with us and walking across that stage with us.”

It is an unimaginable, painful loss to process for anyone, let alone survivors who were 6 years old when the massacre happened.

“Eventually most of us were informed in the following days that we wouldn’t be seeing our friends ever again,” he said. “They should be with us in school or at work or around town, seeing them every single day but we don’t that’s really the worst part of the trauma of what happened.”

Holden is now 17, still wearing an “Angels of Sandy Hook” wristband.

He is graduating Wednesday along with 300 other students, knowing that there should be 20 more.

A new chapter is on the horizon for survivors, but even that can be filled with anxiety.

Many of the survivors told the Associated Press they continue to live with the trauma of that day: Loud noises still cause them to jump out of their seats, and some always keep an eye on a room’s exits. Many have spent years in therapy for post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety.

The town provided an array of services to the families. Officials shielded them as much as they could from the media and outsiders, and the students said leaving such a protective community will be both difficult and somewhat freeing.

Holden will be leaving home to go to college, “getting that fresh start in a way, not getting away from Newtown but being able to go somewhere where life isn’t defined by a tragedy 12 years ago.”

He is part of the Junior Newtown Action Alliance, on a mission to reduce gun violence through legislative and cultural changes.

A few students, including Holden, met with Vice President Kamala Harris last week at the White House.

“It really felt like she listened to us and what we had to say and she wanted to help us. I think that really gives me some hope that maybe that conversation and others can lead to some real change,” he said. “As long as people remember, we can still try to fight to prevent this from happening again.”

After graduation, he is off to George Washington University in Washington, D.C., studying political science.

He wants to be a politician, advocating for more gun laws. He even asked Harris for an internship.

Copyright 2024 WFSB via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.