(RNN) - Marjory Stoneman Douglas alumni from around the country are showing their support for current students in a video compilation directed by a former student.
Ryan Blitzer, identifying as a 2013 graduate from Stoneman Douglas, the Florida high school where a gunman killed 17 people last week, posted the video online with messages of support from fellow alums as far flung as California, New York City and even England.
The video includes recorded messages from alums across three decades, current teachers and the school’s principal, Ty Thompson.
One alum, identified as belonging to the class of 2012, says, “Change has to happen, and Douglas is going to be the school that makes it happen. Eagle pride.”
Science teachers Sean Simpson and Kyle Jeter tell students, “Don’t ever forget to be positive, to be passionate and be proud to be an Eagle.”
“I promise you I will hug each and every one of you as many times as you need and I will hold you as long as you need me to for all 3,300 of you and your families and we will get through this together,” Thompson says in the video.
The video concludes with a quote from the school’s namesake, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, a 20th-century writer, conservationist and women’s suffrage activist: “There is always the need to carry on.”
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