Graduating eighth-grade students at St. Cornelius in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania were given a graduation gift that is a sad sign of the times. Each student received a bulletproof plate for their backpack as they get ready to head to high school.
The plates were donated by Unequal Technologies, which developed the 10-by-12-inch bulletproof plates that are designed to fit into backpacks. The company also donated 25 plates to the school's faculty members.
Students seemed unsure of what to do with the plates as they were handed out during the graduation ceremony.
“I never thought I would need this,” graduating 8th grader Jacob Nicosia told Fox 29.
Principal Barbara Rosini said that it is her job to "protect our children."
"Anything that we can do to protect our children and our staff, that’s what we have-- that's my job, to try to protect them and I try to do the best I can," Rosini said.
Parents were supportive of the gift, but many expressed sadness over the macabre nature of it.
"You hear about these school shootings almost weekly, and I can't believe that's where we are in our nation today, but that's the fact," said one great-grandparent who was attending the event.
Unequal’s president, Rob Vito, whose a daughter is part of the graduating class, said that the plates will stop bullets from a handgun or shotgun, but admitted that they would not stop bullets fired from an AR-15 or other similar rifles.