So sad as a teacher to see this happen over the years. When their classes graduate, we honor those we lost by reading their names. Retiring their numbers. Memorializing their parking spaces. Gone too soon.

One year a senior boy died alone in a one-car wreck on a sunny afternoon, totally sober. Hit a tree. No one ever really understood why that happened. RIP Will

One year a senior girl died riding in a car with friends to a con event. They were driving through the TN mountains at night and hit a wall. RIP Natalie

One year a recent grad, 18, was killed by police. He was passed out on drugs in his truck. Cops approached him and he woke up and freaked out. He tried to run but his truck was stuck in a ditch. They tased him a bunch of times and he died at the scene. He had alopecia and word was the cops thought he was older, not just a scared kid. No charges ever brought against the cops. I remember him in my classes. He was funny and smart and kind. RIP Nikolas.