Bereaved Parents Will Get Honorary Shelton Diploma: Mother

The parents of the Shelton High School senior who was killed in a crash in February, will get their son's honorary degree after a long battle with school officials, the teen's mother said.

Eddy Conklin's parents said they with the superintendent of schools, Christopher Clouet and Shelton's mayor on Wednesday and was told her that her son will be honored at the high school's graduation.

“Closure, closure. That’s what we asked for from the beginning. We wanted the closure,” Conklin's mother, Barbara, told NBC Connecticut.

The popular Shelton High School student-athlete was killed in a single-vehicle crash on Bridgeport Avenue. Police are still investigating the details surrounding that deadly crash.

Many people from Shelton were pleading with the Board of Education for Eddy to receive an honorary diploma months leading up to the graduation ceremony scheduled for June 10.

“We’ve been battling for him for two months and closure is what it comes down to," Conklin's father, Ed, said.

At the time, the board had already voted not to take up the family's request at the meeting.

Now, after months of debates, a single rose will be placed where Eddy Conklin would have been sitting and his name will be read aloud along with other students recieving their diplomas. 

"It took a lot of time and energy to keep going but still you have to be his mom and love your child and you’re going to hang in there until the end," Barbara Conklin told NBC Connecticut.

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