The wake of the Florida shooting has sparked a sense of community for people wanting to celebrate the lives lost.
In the Parkland school shooting, the heroism included teacher and cross country coach, Scott Beigel. Students said Beigel unlocked his door so they could run in, away from the gunfire and that’s when he was fatally shot.
Six days later in West Hartford, runners ran around a track in Beigel’s name.
Bloomfield teacher Mary Kay Rendock, who organized a running event on behalf of Beigel’s friend and West Hartford native, Sarah Williams.
"Sarah’s dear friend Scott was a hero last week and we’re here to celebrate that," Rendock said.
Williams knew Beigel for 25 years. The two went to camp together.
"About three in the morning, we got an email from our directors, letting us know that he had been fatally shot protecting his students and was no longer with us," Williams said.
Rendock’s attire of choice was a five-year-old shirt that says, Love Wins. She wore it Tuesday while chanting, “Never again.”
“When I get upset and stressed about something and act like this, the only thing that makes me feel better at all is to get involved,” said Rendock.
So she ran with it.
In two days, she organized the run in Beigel’s honor, and in conjunction with a similar event in Florida.
Roughly 50 people showed up to put in at least one lap in Beigel’s name.
“We did a 5k, which is the cross country race in high school,” said Ellington’s Jeff Bernabe. “We wanted to give back to the coach and use that symbolic gesture as well.”
A small symbolic gesture in Connecticut, remembering one much bigger in Parkland.
“You protect those that you love and you protect those that you’re in charge of,” said Williams. “It didn’t surprise me that would be his instinct, to protect.”
