New York Rangers Award Law School Scholarship to Sandy Hook Survivor: 'You're Our Inspiration'
The surprise was presented after Thursday night's Rangers versus Toronto Maple Leafs game at Madison Square Garden
A survivor of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting received a surprise from the New York Rangers on Thursday night.
The surprise began when IIsaiah Márquez-Greene was given the opportunity to meet his favorite NHL player, Jacob Trouba, at center ice after the game.
"I've been a fan of you since Winnipeg," Márquez-Greene, 18, is heard telling the team captain in a video shared by the Rangers' official Twitter account.
Isaiah: You’re our inspiration.
We can’t wait to see you right back here after Troubs watches you graduate law school. pic.twitter.com/GUU8FhQHFM— x - New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 14, 2023
After the defenseman, 29, gave him his game-worn jersey, he invited Márquez-Greene to sit on the Rangers' bench.
"I know your story. I feel for you. You're an amazing human," he said, handing over a certificate. "This is for you. It's from the Garden of Dreams. It's a scholarship for law school. So, you're gonna graduate from college, you're gonna go to law school, and you're gonna have no debt coming out of school."
Related:Alex Jones Ordered to Pay Additional $473 Million to Sandy Hook Families
Márquez-Greene shared his dreams of becoming a lawyer, causing Trouba to add: "I want an invitation for when you graduate law school, and I'm gonna check in with you when you go to college next year."
The team echoed the same sentiments as Trouba, writing alongside the video of the sweet exchange, "Isaiah: You're our inspiration. We can't wait to see you right back here after Troubs watches you graduate law school."
According to the scholarship award's official website, the Garden of Dreams Inspire Scholarship Program was created "to give high school seniors financial assistance to advance their educations and realize their dreams" and awards 15 scholarships to high school seniors.
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WTVJ reports that Márquez-Greene is the brother of 6-year-old sister Ana, who was one of the 20 first graders and six adults who were killed on Dec. 14, 2012, in Newtown, Conn.
Since Sandy Hook, there have been 22 fatal school shootings nationwide, in which at least 69 children have been killed. The May 2022 massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which took the lives of 19 students and two teachers, became the second deadliest school shooting in the United States; followed by the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018, which claimed the lives of 17, including 14 students.
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