Senator Hassan Announces Spaulding High School Community as March’s “Granite Staters of the Month”

Click here to view the Senator’s floor speech.

WASHINGTON- Today, as students across the country engage in walk-outs and demand action to prevent future acts of gun violence, Senator Maggie Hassan announced the Spaulding High School community as March’s “Granite Staters of the Month,” recognizing the compassion and commitment to helping others that they displayed following the horrific shooting in Parkland, Florida. 

In the wake of the February 14th shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, students and staff at the Spaulding High School in Rochester, New Hampshire, came together to raise $3,271 and send gifts to the Parkland community.

To nominate a New Hampshire citizen to be a “Granite State of the Month,” constituents can complete the nomination form here.

Click here for video and see below for a statement that Senator Hassan delivered on the Senate floor recognizing Spaulding High School:

Mr. President, I am proud to recognize not just an individual, but the entire Spaulding High School community as our “Granite Staters of the Month” for the compassion and commitment to helping others that they displayed following the horrific shooting in Parkland, Florida.

In the wake of the senseless violence in Parkland, Spaulding Music staff and students met to discuss how they could help the survivors and memorialize the 17 lives that were taken at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Spaulding’s students wanted to focus during this dark time on expressing their love for and how to best send comfort to their peers in Florida. This led Spaulding students, teachers, and faculty to start an initiative – with members of the band, color guard, and Junior ROTC groups playing a leading role – to collect money to support the Stoneman Douglas community.

In the days that followed, students passed around buckets to collect donations, with each student giving what he or she could. In an enthusiastic show of support, the Spaulding community raised $3,271 in just two days.

Students wanted to do more, so they also presented the Spaulding High School Music Department Glass Eagle Leadership Award to the Stoneman Douglas Music Department as that’s also the mascot of their school.

The junior ROTC group also sent one of its Challenge Coins to acknowledge the Parkland students’ bravery and resolve.

Two of the school’s music teachers, Joanne Houston and Cheryl Richardson, recently flew to Florida to present the gifts to Stoneman Douglas’s principal and vice principal.

The selfless support for Stoneman Douglas by the Spaulding High School community exemplifies the compassion of the Granite State.

And in New Hampshire and throughout our country today, school communities are engaging in walk-outs and demanding action to prevent future acts of gun violence. I know that members of the Spaulding student body are planning a walk-out too – and I am profoundly grateful to see our young people speaking out and being powerful forces for change.

I am incredibly proud of these young leaders, we as a country must meet them in this moment.

Thank you, Mr. President. 

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