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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – When Emily Houpt walked across the stage to collect her diploma at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s commencement Saturday, she received a standing ovation from the thousands of people gathered in the school’s packed basketball arena.
Eleven days earlier, 23-year-old Houpt was shot while attending class during the final day of the spring semester. She was one of four students wounded in the shooting. Reed Parlier, 19, and Riley Howell, 21, didn’t survive.
"The tragedy we experienced on April 30 has shaken Niner Nation," UNCC Chancellor Philip Dubois said at the outset of the ceremony before asking for a moment of silence in honor of the the injured and the dead.
The UNCC brass ensemble played its rendition of "American Elegy," which was composed in memory of the victims of the Columbine High School shooting 20 years earlier, said Debois, who then announced the creation of two scholarships named after Howell and Parlier.
In his address to the new graduates, student speaker Samuel Adams also acknowledged the tragedy, though he didn't dwell on it.
"Two weeks ago this was a different speech, and two weeks ago this was a different campus," he said. "Two weeks ago our campus was whole."
Parlier was completing his freshman year when his life was cut short. He was studying computer science. Howell was in his junior year and pursuing a degree in environmental science.
The families of both men, however, attended Saturday's commencement.
The university conferred bachelor's degrees in memoriam to Parlier and Howell. Family member's collected their sons’ degrees at separate ceremonies. Both did so as thousands, some of whom wore “Charlotte strong” T-shirts, stood in honor of the slain students.
"We know Riley's passing on April 30 leaves your family with a hole that cannot be filled, but we want you to know he was an important presence on our campus," Provost Joan Lorden told the 23 members of Howell's family who collected his degree.
The class in which Howell and Parlier lost their lives on April 30 had only just begun when a former student, entered the room and began firing, according to police and witnesses.
Howell tackled the shooter and was fatally shot in the process.His actions saved lives, allowing others more time to escape the classroom, according to Charlotte Mecklenburg police and witnesses.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: UNC Charlotte victim receives her degree at commencement 11 days after shooting
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