Apalachee High honors graduates in first commencement since shooting

In her speech to Apalachee High’s 2025 graduating class, valedictorian Kaleigh Spencer told her peers that even as they go on to new things, they’ll always carry with them the people they used to be — including students who survived a shooting.

“Simply walking across this stage after such an event deserves recognition,” she said Thursday. “Yet we are all here today, looking toward whatever comes next.”

More than 400 graduates walked across the stage Thursday night, nearly eight months after two students and two teachers were shot and killed at the school. It was the deadliest school shooting in Georgia’s history. A former student and his father were charged in connection to the shooting.

Valedictorian Kaleigh Spencer addresses her peers at the Apalachee High School graduation ceremony on May 22, 2025. (Photo courtesy Barrow County Schools)

The ceremony began before sunset on the football field at the Winder campus, which is where families and students reunited after the shooting. A short moment of silence was held in memory of the victims. Members of the media were not allowed to attend. The school district, which posted the ceremony on YouTube, said it would not facilitate interviews, “as we will all be focused on our students and their loved ones.”

“Through challenges we never expected, your perseverance does not go unnoticed,” said Kaitlyn Pritchett, an honor student at the school who opened the ceremony.

Apalachee High was closed for more than two weeks after the shooting. The school system hired more resource officers, provided several mental health services and installed weapons detectors in its schools. Lawmakers convened in January to consider ways to make Georgia schools safer.