School Has Do-Over Ceremony After Senior Missed Graduation Due To Coma

"I’m speechless to know that this many people are behind me.”
Scott Dunn receiving his diploma.
Scott Dunn receiving his diploma.

Call it a graduation recreation.

A high school held a second ceremony for a student who missed graduation due to a coma.

Scott Dunn was supposed to graduate from East Juniata High School in McAlisterville, Pennsylvania, on May 25. But on May 22, on his way to a track meet, Dunn got into a car accident that put him into a coma, causing him to miss one of the biggest days of his young life.

“I remember waking up in the hospital and asking my mom what day it was. She told me it was the 28th,” Dunn told WHTM. “First thing I said, I looked at her and said, ‘I missed my graduation’.”

Scott Dunn
Scott Dunn

When East Juniata’s principal, Benjamin Fausey, heard that Dunn had woken from his coma, he told Dunn and his mom, Karen, the school "wanted to do something special for him."

That special thing? Graduation 2.0.

On June 14, three weeks after the other students officially graduated, 50 seniors from Dunn’s graduating class of 80, showed up in caps and gowns for ceremonial do-over for one.

"It's like a reunion," one teacher told The Lewistown Sentinel as she smiled through tears.

Karen hugs her son, Scott Dunn.
Karen hugs her son, Scott Dunn.

Fausey told ABC News that Dunn got to lead his classmates in a procession to "Pomp and Circumstance," and as Dunn walked across the stage to get his diploma, graduates erupted into applause.

"At the first ceremony I spoke to you about perseverance," Fausey said during Dunn’s ceremony according to The Lewistown Sentinel. "It's because of his perseverance that Scotty is with us here today."

Students gather around Dunn to throw their caps into the air.
Students gather around Dunn to throw their caps into the air.

Students even formed a circle around Dunn post-ceremony, in which they all threw their caps into the air.

“I’m speechless,” Dunn told WHTM. “I don’t know how to even explain it. I’m speechless to know that this many people are behind me.”

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