BUFFALO, N.Y. — The school year is coming to a close, but over at Mount Mercy Academy in South Buffalo, they're making sure to end things in an impactful way.
The school held a Walk For Peace event on Wednesday in order to spread a message of unity, after the Tops shooting last month. Even seniors who already graduated returned for the walk around Cazenovia Park.
It was Mount Mercy Academy's way of standing against hate, racism, and violence after a reality check on May 14.
"A reality check that it's actually happening around here," said Lucy Duggan, a junior at Mount Mercy. "Standing here today is us realizing that we have to do something."
Students say it was the least they could do for their community members and those killed and injured in the Tops shooting.
"This affected us as a whole," said Kennedy Cerrone, a junior at Mount Mercy. "We are all mourning the losses and we need to do something about it."
Doing something about it meant inviting other schools.
"I wanted to walk on behalf of my husband's cousin, Marcus Morrison, and another survivor was also his cousin, Zaire Goodman," said Tracy McCloud, whose son attends Bishop Timon High School.
Doing something about it meant writing messages to the victims' families and putting them in pillows created by McCloud.
"When everything has died down, they still have long term encouragement because they can pull out a note at any given time and see what Mount Mercy has said," McCloud said. "Even though they didn't know (the victims), a lot of (students) still wrote notes for every one of (their families)."
But doing something long-term, means informing current and future generations about anti-racism.
"We have it embedded in our curriculum," said Mount Mercy Academy head of school Michele Melligan. "We know and believe that (the students) are the future."
A future where hopefully everyone can focus more on what's inside.
"We all have the same blood. They wanted to show us love. That's what it's all about," McCloud said.