Grace Weidner, a sophomore from Gurnee, was in the Cole Hall auditorium when the Feb. 14 shootings took place.

She had spoken with classmate Gayle Dubowski the day before.

“We talked about what we wanted to do with our lives. I told her how I was undecided and didn’t know what I wanted to major in. I mentioned how there was so much to choose from and I didn’t know what I would be good at, if anything. She smiled, looked at me and said, ‘Don’t worry; I was in the same spot just a year ago,’ ” Weidner said.

Now Weidner, who has chosen majors in communications and political science, lives in tribute to Dubowksi and the four others lost that day. She no longer dreads attending class or complains about writing papers. She no longer fights back tears the mornings of big tests.

“I no longer can take the privilege of going to college for granted,” she said. “I can’t help but think how much Gayle, Ryanne, Julianna, Catalina or Dan would give to just go one more day to school. Even though I was terrified to step foot in another classroom after the shooting, I promised myself I would go back for the five who could not go back.”

And she dreams – to make a difference for others, to marry, to raise a family, to give her children “as blessed a life as I have been given.”

“This is one of the biggest honors in my life,” she said. “I know it could’ve been a scholarship in honor of me. I know how much these people meant to their families. I know how much they meant to me. I will do exactly what this scholarship was created for: to honor their lives as best I can.”