Navigating life without your child after a violent attack feels different for every family forever impacted by the Nov. 30, 2021, mass shooting at Oxford High School.
One family is focused on a garden memorial named for the daughter they lost and to honor all four teens who lost their lives that day, while another family is putting energy into a peer-to-peer mentoring program that carries on the selflessness their son showed in his daily life before it was cut short.
One mother is trying to move forward by starting a foundation in her son's name but feels she cannot until she knows the full truth of what happened and who is responsible for the attack.
Some of Oxford's survivors find peace in the unspoken moments while others have taken their grief and turned it into advocacy by forming student-led initiatives to work to curb gun violence and increase opportunities for mental health resources.
"We all came together in our tragedy," said Zoe Touray, an Oxford High graduate who turned her experience from the shooting into something positive for other survivors of gun violence.
The family and friends of the four students killed in the attack — Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Shilling — all have their own journeys and their own stories.
Over eight weeks, The Detroit News talked with 20 people to tell four stories about the four beloved victims and how their family and friends spent the last 12 months finding ways to move forward and honor them. Here are those stories.
