OXFORD, Mich. (WXYZ) — Construction plans have been announced for a garden in honor of Hana St. Juliana and her fellow classmates killed in the shooting at Oxford High School last year.
Her family announced plans to break ground on Hana’s Garden in spring 2023. The space will honor Hana and the three other teenagers, Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre and Justin Shilling, who died after the Nov. 30, 2021 shooting.
The garden will be at the Seymour Lake Township Park in Oxford.
“The purpose of Hana’s Garden is to have a place for the community to remember the four students lost. We don’t want them or what happened to them to be forgotten,” said Steve St. Juliana, Hana’s father.
Steve St. Juliana says the garden will be separated into four sections, honoring each teen.
Initially, the plan was to create a smaller memorial for Hana, but after the success of a fundraiser in Lake Orion in April, the Hana St. Juliana Memorial Fund decided to make the project larger. The fund intends to remember the lives of the Oxford High School shooting victims and help prevent similar tragedies from happening.
Family members of the victims were asked for their input in the garden’s plans, which includes a central plaza with four pergolas, benches and a four-sided sculpture that honors the teens. They also plan to have a water feature, boardwalk, rain garden and walkways.
Local organizations donated their time to help with the garden’s creation. Chris Nordstrom of Ann Arbor-based Carlisle Wortman created the original concept. Detroit-based architectural firm Smith Group is expected to create final drawings for the project. Oxford landscape construction firm Heritage and Company is overseeing the project.
Donations to the Hana St. Juliana Memorial Fund can be made via PayPay. People can also donate on Four Country Community Foundation’s website by selecting “Field of Interest Funds” and then “Hana St. Juliana Memorial.”
Checks can be sent to:
Four County Community Foundation
P.O. Box 539
Almont, MI 48003
