My name is Amy Morris. I am and always will be Keagan Rex’s mother.

Keagan passed away on December 16, 2025, at just 17 years old, during his senior year at Belleville East High School. He was kind, funny, smart, and protective of everyone he loved. He was an amazing son and the best big brother. He was looking forward to becoming a mechanic. He had a whole life he wanted to live.

Before graduation, I spoke directly with Superintendent Dr. Marshaun Warren to express my concerns about the decision to hold a moment of silence without reading the deceased students’ names. I explained how much hearing those names would mean to their families and asked her to reconsider. She maintained that the names would not be read.  The principal later told me that he intended on saying Keagan's name

On May 16, 2026, I attended his graduation knowing I would never see him walk across the stage. But I believed I would hear his name, because I had been told it would be announced.

The only time I heard it was when I said it myself.

When I called out “Keagan Rex,” the crowd applauded. Hearing people respond to his name meant so much to me.

His name was misspelled in the graduation program. After I had reached the parking lot, I was called back to receive his diploma privately.

That same day, Belleville West, in the same district under the same superintendent and school board, read another deceased student’s name and invited his mother onto the stage. I am glad she had that moment. I wanted that choice, too.

Keagan and the other students who had passed away were not recognized by name during Belleville East’s ceremony. Their families and classmates lost a meaningful opportunity to hear those names and honor the students who should have been there beside them. Having already explained how much that moment mattered, I felt our grief and our wishes had gone unheard.

Keagan belonged to his class. His teachers and classmates later asked to establish a memorial scholarship in his name. Hearing his name at graduation would have meant so much to the people who loved him.

In the months afterward, I attended Board meetings, wrote letters, filed a formal complaint, and requested records while grieving my son. I kept having to explain a day that had already hurt more than I can describe. No grieving parent should have to endure that additional pain to seek answers about their child’s graduation recognition.

After our family spoke up, District 201 adopted a consistent recognition procedure for both high schools. Now I want families across Illinois to have a choice.

Please support the proposed Keagan Rex Graduation Recognition Act.

We ask Illinois lawmakers to require public high schools to contact parents or guardians before their child’s class graduates and offer them the choice to:

-Have their child’s name read aloud during the ceremony.
-Have their child’s name printed correctly in the graduation program, with an opportunity to check the spelling beforehand.
-Receive a diploma onstage or privately if their child is eligible for one.
-Decline recognition if that is their wish.

If the family wishes, a student’s name should still be read aloud and included in the program at their class’s graduation, even if they had not completed the requirements for a diploma before passing away.

Families should receive written confirmation of their choices and a designated school contact to help with arrangements. Those choices should be honored consistently across every high school in a district.

We ask State Representative Jay Hoffman and State Senator Christopher Belt to sponsor this legislation and help bring it before the Illinois General Assembly.

Every grieving family carries something different into graduation. Some want to stand and receive their child’s diploma. Some want to sit quietly and hear their child’s name. Some choose privacy. They deserve compassion, clear communication, and the chance to make that choice before they arrive.

I cannot change Keagan’s graduation day. But I can keep saying his name and work to spare another family the additional hurt we endured.

Please sign and share in memory of Keagan Rex, so no family waits to hear their child’s name and is met with a silence that makes it feel as though they were never there.

They were there. They worked hard, helped write their class’s story, and shaped lives that will forever carry a part of them.

For the family who can only imagine watching their child cross that stage, hearing their name is a moment they will hold close for the rest of their lives.