(ABC 6 News) – Owatonna celebrated its graduating seniors Friday night, while giving a special honor to two members of the class of 2024 who passed away before the big day.

Those students were Dylan Lauwers, who took his own life during his freshman year, and Olivia Flores, who passed away after being hurt in a three-vehicle crash in Rochester, less than three weeks before graduation.

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“Though they aren’t walking across the stage with us today, they hold a special place in our hearts,” said graduating senior Nora Lee Johnson during the ceremony.

Typically, when a student passes away, the district asks the family if they’d like to announce the student’s name at graduation and have a moment of silence.

This year, they decided to take it a step further, after many students petitioned the school to leave open an empty seat for each of their departed classmates, as a visual representation of the loss in the student body.

“It means a lot that they’re putting together this for Olivia because she wanted to graduate really badly, she wanted to travel the world and just be done with high school,” said Jaelyn Otte, a family friend who grew up with Olivia.

Olivia’s mother, Stephanie Flores, says graduating high school was something her daughter looked forward to more than anything. This way, she could still attend the ceremony in spirit.

This act is just the latest way the community has shown its support for the Flores family after Olivia’s passing.

“It’s been a really difficult time here at Owatonna High School the last few weeks, mourning the loss of Olivia Flores, one of our students, but it is our honor to pay tribute to her,” said OHS Principal Kory Kath.

Olivia was dearly loved by her community, making an impact on everyone she met.

“She just loved you if you were kind and loved others. She never once hated on someone for just being themselves. Olivia was very fond of being yourself,” said Otte.

“Every morning, she would walk into the school and say hello, greet, hi Mr. Kath and there was just this little spitfire, this spirit within her,” said Kath.

Though Olivia will never get to hold her diploma in herself, that piece of paper representing her hard work over the last four years was given to her family in a private ceremony following graduation, to remember her achievement.

“It brings comfort to know that Olivia impacted more lives than just my family and her family,” said Otte.

Because of how the student body rallied around Olivia and Dylan, the district decided to leave an empty chair in future for any other students who might not make it across the stage.