These students passed away before graduation. Lakewood Ranch High will now honor them

High school is a place to learn, dream and meet lifelong friends. That journey was cut short for Matthew Powers and Chase Coyner when a car wreck took their lives in September 2018.

Coyner, 17, received a posthumous diploma from Lakewood Ranch High School in 2019. And 15-year-old Powers, a member of the Class of 2021, would have graduated this year.

“As a parent who’s lost a child, one of the things you fear, because they haven’t lived a full life, is will they be remembered? How will they be remembered? They didn’t have a chance to build their own legacy,” Rebecca Powers said.

Rebecca Powers was joined by her family and the Coyner family on Wednesday afternoon, when Lakewood Ranch High unveiled the new Mustang Memorial Walk. The area honors Coyner, Powers and all the students who died before graduating — each known as a Forever Mustang.

The families shared in cutting a ribbon and walking down the path at Wednesday’s ceremony. The entrance was marked by a granite stone and a bronze plaque: “Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us every day,” it reads.

“Unseen, unheard, but always near,” the plaque continues. “So loved, so missed, so very dear.”

With that message in mind, the families continued to a golden trumpet tree at the center of the Mustang Memorial Walk.

The tree, encircled by a series of green benches, will grow more than 20 feet tall and form bright yellow blossoms.

“It’s a place for students to gather if they want to sit and reflect about their fellow students,” Rebecca Powers said. “You know, a place for remembrance.”

Unified by grief, the Coyner and Powers families led the project after their sons’ 2018 car wreck. The families worked alongside school leaders to navigate planning, approvals and the unforeseen COVID-19 pandemic.

Scott Coyner, the father of Chase Coyner, said it was a project to heal the countless people affected by their loss.

“As we struggled with our own grief, we realized their friends and fellow students were also grieving,” the father said during Wednesday’s ceremony. “Our families joined together to find a way to give back to them and the idea for the memorial walk was conceived.”

While the center tree and benches were dedicated to the Coyner and Powers boys, two other students — Dashwood Payen and Andrea Barberena-Rojas — died the same year. The school is adding new plaques to honor those students, Scott Coyner said.

Closing out Wednesday’s ceremony, the school marching band performed “The Horse,” Matthew Powers’ favorite song to play as a member of the band. It was a “happy-sad” moment, the families said.

Principal Dustin Dahlquist, a partner to the families, reflected on the new Mustang Memorial Walk: “This is an extremely beautiful and powerful addition to our courtyard.”

This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 2:07 PM.