Poignant Graduation Held by Class in Water Slide Tragedy

NAPA, Calif. — On a day that should have been filled with joy and hope, Napa High School held a bittersweet graduation ceremony for classmates of the teenager killed in last week’s tragic water slide collapse.

Quimby Ghilotti died and 32 classmates were injured June 2 when a slide at Waterworld USA in Concord buckled and snapped, sending the students tumbling nearly 40 feet to the ground.

“When I see the faces of those who fell, I realize I am looking at miracles,” student speaker Alexis Johansson said during the commencement ceremony Thursday. “The price of the future is sometimes the pain of the past. Live life to the fullest, because every day is a gift from God.”

It was the school’s 100th commencement, but the celebration was muted as 16 injured students lined up to accept their diplomas in wheelchairs. Two students were on stretchers, brought to the ceremony on the school’s football field by ambulance. One student, Maureen Rodgers, was not well enough to participate.

The ceremony was dedicated to the memory of Ghilotti and another student, Gerardo Soria, who died Tuesday of bone cancer.

Ghilotti’s mother accepted her daughter’s diploma and spoke to the students.

“Parents, love your children, because it’s not easy being a teenager in this world. Teens, love your parents, because it’s not easy being a parent in this world. Be safe tonight,” Victoria Nelson said.

The graduation came two days after Ghilotti’s father, Larry Ghilotti, filed a wrongful death claim against the city of Concord, calling the slide “dangerous, defective and broken.” If the city does not settle the claim in 45 days, a civil lawsuit is likely to be filed. Waterworld and the slide’s Canadian manufacturer could be named as defendants at that time.

“We’re evaluating [the claim] and we will respond,” Concord spokeswoman Emily Hopkins said.

Waterworld has consistently called the accident “a silly prank that went bad,” noting signs warn visitors that the slides are designed to hold only one rider at a time.

The Napa classmates were trying to break a record for “clogging” the slide with more people than the previous year’s senior class, but the slide broke under the weight.