DUDLEY, MASS. (WHDH) - Students around the country marked the one year anniversary of the horrific massacre at Marjorie Stoneman Douglass Highschool in Parkland, Florida with vigils and moments of silence.
These acts of remembrance hit close to home for several students at Nichols College in Dudley, where several survivors attend classes.
Freshman Tyler Goodman was a senior at Marjorie Stoneman Douglass when a gunman opened fire and killed 16 of his classmates and his football coach.
“Going to five or six funerals in one week is not what you want to do your last year of high school,” Goodman said.
Goodman was inside the athletic offices meeting with recruiters from Nichols College when they heard the first shots ring out.
“We could definitely hear some shots,” tennis coach Paul Brower said. “We knew that there was a shooter but we didn’t know how close.”
The coaches tried to keep students calm during the hectic events. They had no idea that the gunman ran right past their locked door.
Since that day, time has moved slowly, Goodman said.
“When I am telling the story it is like seeing the same movie over and over again,” he said.
When Goodman ultimately decided to come to Nichols to play football, he requested jersey number 17 to honor his fallen classmates.
“I work every day for the 17 upstairs,” he said. “I wake up every day and know that even if no one is watching me, I have 17 people watching me to make sure I do good.”
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