Dozens of family, friends and even complete strangers came out to celebrate the life of Rebecca Sedwick.
Her mother, Tricia Norman, was surrounded by dozens of candles and tearful messages, but she said the support still doesn’t make her daughter's suicide any easier to take.
“It’s made it worse," Norman said. "I’m still in shock."
One year ago today, Rebecca jumped to her death at an abandoned cement site. Norman said her daughter had been bullied by her former friends leading up to her suicide.
Norman said it’s still hard for her to stand in front of site where her daughter died.
“It’s very hard," she said. "It’s part of the reason I moved away from here because it’s too hard to drive by this place."
Now with the help of anti-bullying campaigns like Jaylen’s Challenge, those who knew Sedwick are trying to stop bullying. They’re sending a message that the young people at the vigil said they heard loud and clear.
“In the school that she was in, I was in too, and that school definitely cracked down on bullying and it’s basically almost zero there,” Rebecca’s friend Isis Colber said.
It’s a difference Norman said she’s proud her daughter was able to make but she’s sad it took her death to make that difference happen.
“I’m amazed at the support we received since this all happened last year," she said. "I’m glad she’s making a difference. I just wish it were under better circumstances."
The abandoned cement site is at center of a lawsuit filed by Sedwick’s mother. The lawsuit accuses the Cemex company of not properly securing the site.
The Polk County School District and one of the girls accused of bullying are also listed in that lawsuit.