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Biden gives video address to graduating Parkland students

Photo: Labrum
Photo: Labrum

PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — President Joe Biden has told graduating seniors who were freshmen when a mass shooting left 17 people dead at their Florida high school that they've turned pain into purpose and darkness into light.

Biden's surprise video address was recorded earlier at the White House and aired at Tuesday's commencement for graduates of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

Besides surviving the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history, the students — Biden noted — also saw their academic careers disrupted by COVID-19.

Of those killed in the 2018 shooting, 14 were students and three were staff members. Nine of those students would have graduated with the Class of 2021.

Danielle Prieur is WMFE's education reporter.