Schools
Lakeland High Senior Killed In Crash Got A Seat On Graduation Day
A Lakeland teacher and seniors painted an old oak chair a bright yellow color so that a student they lost could still be at graduation.
LAKELAND, FL — An empty yellow chair sat in the middle of more than a hundred chairs at the RP Funding Center on Lakewood High School's 2022 graduation day.
The empty seat was in memory of a 17-year-old student, Aaron "A.J." Bates II, who died in a February car crash with his dad as they drove to Bates' dream college, Florida State University. Bates planned to attend FSU in fall, according to the Polk County Public Schools District.
His art teacher, Andrea Goodson, said it felt like a direct hit when the crash happened. Goodson has taught school for about 40 years. She taught Bates' parents when they were sweethearts at Lakeland High.
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"This was probably the best overall group of students I've had in years," Goodson told the school. "And Aaron was a key part of it. When the accident happened, the next week we couldn't function...I tried everything and we just couldn't engage."
As Goodson and her art class grieved the loss of Bates, she got the idea to paint an old oak desk chair in her classroom yellow—Bates' favorite color—and invited his classmates to decorate it however they wanted.
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It turned into a therapy project for the class that helped them move forward, Goodson said.
Angel wings, a halo and other drawings were created on the chair. Another of Bates' senior classes, statistics, contributed to the art by creating a paper chain with messages that were placed across the chair.
On graduation day, Bates' mother, Katie Bates, said it was very powerful when she walked into the auditorium and saw it with the other chairs.
“The school and the kids and staff and teachers took the worst thing that could ever happen to a family and a parent...and they completely rallied around us,” Katie said. “It was meaningful to me that on the day everyone is celebrating their graduates, they still took the time to make him and I feel part of that Dreadnaught family and tradition."
Katie said it was hard for her and it was a bittersweet experience but overall beautiful.
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