The resilience of the students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is obvious. They've resumed classes, and their lives, on a campus where 17 of fellow students and teachers were killed in a mass shooting just over a month ago.
And now, they'll turn what's normally a private chronicle of high school life -- a yearbook -- into a public testament to pain and perseverance.
For the first time, the high school's yearbook is being made available nationally for purchase. In it, the yearbook staff weave a powerful tale of Marjory Stoneman Douglas' strength and resolve, for the whole world to see.
"We're still here. We still have games going on. We're still making the yearbook. There's still going to be prom," yearbook adviser Sarah Lerner said in a blog post for Walsworth Yearbooks. "We're a very strong community and we're not letting this stop us."
Lerner said at first she was hesitant to share the upcoming yearbook, The Aerie, with the public, because there are student pictures and personal stories in it. But she ultimately decided that opening up the yearbook to people outside the school would let them see how much pride the students have in their school.
"I hope they see how hard the kids have worked and how much love has gone into this book," Lerner said. "I hope that they see all of the wonderful things that we do here, before the (shooting) and since."
'It's our story'
The Aerie will include coverage of the shooting, pictures from vigils and memorials, a story on students dyeing their hair in honor of the victims, pieces on the surviving students' political activism and highlights from the week they returned to the school.
In a special section, each of the mass shooting's 17 victims will be profiled.
"We have a story to tell and it's our story. No one else will tell it better than we will, because we lived it," Lerner said.
People interested in buying a copy of the yearbook can go to yearbookforever.com to place an order.
