Just A Few Days Before Starting Her Senior Year Of High School, This 16-Year-Old Sadly Took Her Life After Being Bullied And One Of Her Classmates Says The School Is Pretending It Never Happened

“Instead of talking about where we are applying to, graduation, and senior festivities, we are talking about how the same school that McKenna invested so much into is brushing her death under the rug like she never even existed.”

“I am so frustrated that suicide is still ignored and viewed as insane, and we all know McKenna would say the same exact thing if she could. If you have not realized it yet, suicide is real and is happening right in front of your eyes. Your students are mourning without support, closure, and validity.”

“With that being said, something has to change. We could theme a football game for her, do a moment of silence around the track, hold an assembly, make a memorial– the list goes on. So, let’s come together as a school and make sure this never happens again while we honor and look back on her legacy.”

The statement was well-received on Facebook– gaining over five hundred likes, prompting one hundred and thirty-seven shares, and spurring eighty-two comments.

Cheryl Brown also underscored Emma’s message by saying, “We all need to do better!”

Since then, the East Lake High School student body has organized a Change.org petition reiterating the school’s lack of action and asking to plant a legacy tree in McKenna’s honor.

“The school has done absolutely nothing to honor McKenna so far– has not even put out a message about it. Planting a small tree professionally only costs $150- $300. There is more than enough room either in the student parking lot or next to the gym. And the engineering department can easily CNC her a plaque,” the petition read.

“As the student body, let’s make sure her name is not forgotten at ELHS!”

And even though the East Lake High School’s student body is only made up of just over two thousand and three hundred students, the petition has already received five thousand and five hundred signatures.

Now, people from the greater Florida community and beyond are speaking out, too.

“I’m a mental health therapist, and the stigma needs to stop!” wrote one petitioner, Kelly Turner.