Jimmy Fallon Surprises Parkland Seniors At Graduation Ceremony
Jimmy Fallon brought some levity and laughter to a somber graduation ceremony on Sunday honoring the 2018 class of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
In a surprise speech, Fallon addressed 748 seniors, along with their families and friends during the commencement that honored four classmates who died in the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The school gave posthumous diplomas to Nicholas Dworet, Joaquin Oliver, Meadow Pollack and Carmen Schentrup. The degrees were accepted by family members.
In total, 17 students and educators were killed in the massacre.
Fallon previously joined survivors of the shooting at the March for Our Lives, the gun control rally in March that Stoneman Douglas students organized in Washington and around the country following the attack.
At the graduation ceremony, he referred to the time he spent meeting some of the students at the rally, and he thanked the whole class for their courage and bravery.
“You are not just the future ― you are the present,” he said. “Keep changing the world. Keep making us proud.”
JIMMY FALLON CAME TO OUR GRADUATION DAWG WTF pic.twitter.com/7Mys8t5l6H
— sid 🕊💫 (@sidfischer00) June 3, 2018
Jimmy Fallon at Douglas High graduation: “The whole world has heard your voice.”
— Hal Habib (@gunnerhal) June 3, 2018
Jimmy Fallon to Douglas grads: “You’re not the future. You are the present.”
— Hal Habib (@gunnerhal) June 3, 2018
His speech also included some lighter moments ― he joked to big laughs that the graduates would no longer be classmates, but instead “adults who Facebook search each other at 2 in the morning for the next 10 years.”
Congratulations Marjory Stoneman Douglas Class of 2018! You are not just the future - you are the present. Keep changing the world. Keep making us proud. #MSDStrong #YouAreThePresent pic.twitter.com/czvZwezKSt
— jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) June 3, 2018
“The Tonight Show” host also gave students some words of encouragement.
“Choose to move forward,” he said. “Don’t let anything stop you.”
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.