An Apalachee High School student recorded a rap tribute to his beloved algebra teacher, who was one of four people shot and killed in a mass shooting at the Georgia school.
Isaac Sanguma, 16, attended Apalachee High School and was there when suspected gunman Colt Gray, 14, opened fire at the school on Sept. 4.
One of the victims was algebra teacher Cristina Irimie, 53, who died trying to save a student, her relative said. ANF.
Sanguma said he did not want his name to be lost to history.
Instead, she created the song Forever Irimie and posted a teaser on TikTok that garnered over 2.6 million likes.
Isaac Sanguma, 16, was at Apalachee High School when suspected gunman Colt Gray, 14, opened fire inside the school on Sept. 4.
Sanguma said he didn’t want his favorite teacher, Cristina Irimie, to be lost in history, so he wrote a song dedicated to her.
Students and teachers gather to mourn and celebrate the lives of the victims of the Apalachee High School shooting on Sept. 8
The touching tribute is a song of sorrow for what happened that day, in memory of his favorite teacher.
“I won’t see Mrs. Irimie for a while, man, I can’t deal with this trauma.” Sanguma raps in the clip“I can’t give up, I know Ms. Irimie wants me to try harder.”
Irimie was described as a beloved teacher with a “big heart” who brought a cake to school to celebrate her birthday with students on the day she was killed, ANF reported.
That compassion touched Sanguma, who wrote in her post that she met Irimie in her first year when she was working as a substitute teacher.
He regretted being rude to her during that time and apologized for his behavior during her junior year. He said the teacher immediately accepted his apology.
“Ms. Irimie never made me feel ashamed of myself,” Sanguma recalled. “She understood that I was expelled from school in my first year for minor disappearances and never reprimanded me for being late to class or having my phone on me.”
Irimie’s compassion touched Sanguma, who wrote that she met the teacher in her first year when she was working as a substitute.
Victims of the Apalachee High School shooting, from left: Christian Angulo, Mason Schermerhorn, Cristina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall, at a memorial outside the school on Sept. 10.
The song Forever Irimie is scheduled for release this Friday
Irimie would often take the student aside to give her words of encouragement after class ended, he explained. He said that on the last day he saw her, she had “the biggest smile on her face with her little dimples,” asked Sanguma to come to class on time and asked if she was OK.
Sanguma said he was afraid to release the song because he didn’t want people to feel like he was doing it for himself, ANF reported.
After recognizing that music is his form of therapy, he felt compelled to express himself.
The 16-year-old has been writing and recording music for seven years.
He invited all the students to join him for the filming of his music video on September 14 at the high school, and was seen filming part of the video at a monument in front of the school.
Forever Irimie is set to be released this Friday on Spotify.