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Dwyane Wade surprised the graduating class of Parkland, Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Sunday. The retired Miami Heat star was the surprise commencement speaker for the class of 2019. During his speech, he addressed the trauma suffered by the students following the February 2018 shooting that left 17 dead.

Wade has been involved with the Parkland community since the tragedy. He even visited the school on the first full day of regular class after the shooting. Parkland victim Joaquin Oliver was one of the individuals killed, and the 17-year old, a huge fan of the baller, was buried in a Dwyane Wade Miami Heat jersey. Wade even dedicated the rest of the 2018 season to the teenager.

In his speech, the NBA star reflected on the violent incident and his initial visit to the school.

“I immediately started getting butterflies in my stomach,” he said. “I remember being so nervous to see and meet everybody. What would I say? I mean, I grew up in the inner city of Chicago, and I’ve experienced a lot of awful things. But I’ve never experienced anything to the magnitude that you guys had just experienced. I remember walking in and meeting the staff and actually being surprised that everyone was excited to see me.

” … I realized that at that moment, we all had a responsibility. A responsibility to be seen, to be heard, to stand up and stand tall, for the ones that no longer had a voice,” Wade added.

“I’ve never experienced anything to the magnitude that you guys just experienced,” he told the students and their parents. “I remember walking to the school, and I remember hearing absolutely nothing. I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’ve never heard this kind of silence before in my life.’”

Before his speech concluded, Wade led the audience through a chant that the Miami Heat used to recite to psych themselves up before the 2013 NBA Finals, USA Today reports.

“To the last man, to the last minute, to the last second, we fight, we fight, we fight!” he shouted along with the students.

Scroll up and watch footage from the graduation ceremony via the YouTube clip above.

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