On Sunday, Aug. 6, the family of Hana St. Juliana—one of the four young victims in the Oxford High School shooting—broke ground on a new memorial garden.
Located in Seymour Lake Township Park, the garden is meant to honor Hana and the other three children killed by a classmate in November 2021: Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, and Justin Shilling. The groundbreaking celebration was also a fundraiser, with all of the profits going to the Hana St. Juliana Memorial Fund, whose first project is the construction and upkeep of the garden.
Throughout the event, community members and Hana's family reflected on what the project meant to them.
"As most of you know, she [Hana] makes it very difficult to describe her in words because my word wouldn't invoke the happiness and humor she effortlessly handed out," said Hana's older sister Reina. "She was just always sharing, whether that was her smile, laughter, sarcasm, kindness, or her eccentric ideas. There was just never a dull moment. She was the glue of our family. There are just countless places and things that remind me of Hana."
Reina said she wants the garden to serve as a space that reminds visitors of the light that Hana brought to others' lives. Hear more about the project on today's podcast.
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