Washington — Simply earlier than the category of 2025 graduated from the U.S. Army Academy at West Level and accepted their commissions as officers within the U.S. Military, a bunch of cadets this previous Could determined to honor certainly one of their very own — a boy who dreamed of attending West Level however earlier than he may, laid down his life as a hero.
RHONA WISE/AFP through Getty Pictures
Peter Wang, an Military Junior ROTC cadet, was simply 15 years outdated and among the many 17 killed in the course of the 2018 mass capturing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty in Parkland, Florida. In the course of the capturing, he held a door open to permit college students to flee the cruel gunfire on that day.
In a follow-up story revealed seven years after the capturing, CBS Information reported in Could that Wang was posthumously accepted to the West Level class of 2025.
When CBS Information reached out to the U.S. Army Academy at West Level within the days earlier than commencement this yr to ask whether or not Wang — who was symbolically accepted into the category — could be awarded his diploma posthumously, the inquiry appeared to catch each the academy’s media relations workers and management off guard. But amongst some class members, Wang’s story of sacrifice remained vivid, and their willpower to see him honored had not pale.
“After we put out a type asking for classmates to appoint honorary members of our class, I used to be not anticipating Peter Wang’s title to be on the listing of nominees,” newly minted Military 2nd Lt. Katherine Metz, the president of the category of 2025 at West Level, instructed CBS Information. “Most cadets nominated former classmates who have been separated from West Level for causes exterior of their management — principally medical — or international change cadets who made a major impression on our class or their international locations. Nevertheless, Peter’s title appeared numerous occasions inside our class’s responses.”
Photograph supplied by 2nd Lt. Katherine Metz 
Metz had learn the article by CBS Information and different information tales from the time of the capturing. She stated numerous cadets from the category nominated Wang for the Honorary Graduate Award and would quickly be mailing his certificates to his dad and mom.
The award is an honor conferred on those that didn’t bodily graduate with the category however who embody West Level’s core values of obligation, honor and nation.
When the sounds of gunfire reverberated via the hallways of Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty, Wang was in examine corridor. As panic unfold, he moved towards the exit — to not flee, however to carry the door open, easing the way in which for his classmates to flee.
He was shot 13 occasions. Wang was discovered lifeless in a third-floor hallway, sporting his Military JROTC uniform.
The Florida Nationwide Guard honored Wang with a navy funeral, and a whole lot assembled to pay their respects.
Metz stated certainly one of her classmates wrote about how Wang “valiantly sacrificed himself to carry the door for his fellow classmates to flee,” and stated it was solely becoming “that we acknowledge him as an honorary graduate, as he would have been with us.”
Some members of the category of 2025 have been already acquainted with Wang’s story and the tragic path that led to his posthumous admission. However for a lot of, the main points emerged solely when his title was introduced as an honorary member of the graduating class. From that second, classmates say, his story turned a part of the category’s shared id — a permanent instance of selflessness and sacrifice.
“Now, our complete class is aware of his story and can take his selfless instance of sacrifice with us into our service as commissioned officers in the US Military,” stated Metz.
Photograph supplied by 2nd Lt. Katherine Metz 
For his actions in 2018, Wang was posthumously awarded the Medal of Heroism by the U.S. Military, the best award given to Military JROTC and ROTC cadets whose efficiency “concerned the acceptance of hazard and extraordinary tasks.” Junior ROTC cadets Alaina Petty and Martin Duque, who have been additionally killed in the course of the capturing, additionally obtained the medal.
“Peter demonstrated the traits and attributes we search out of graduates of the Naval Academy or West Level,” retired Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen instructed CBS Information in Could. Caslen, who was the superintendent of West Level in 2018, licensed Wang’s entry into the category of 2025.
He added, “People like Peter are precisely the women and men you need main America’s youth in fight conditions, the truth that he demonstrated that at his age says lots about him which is why we made him an honorary member of the category.”
