Detroit Student Shot in the Head Gives Speech at Graduation

DETROIT, MI -- Detroit teenager Balaal Hollings was trying to break up a fight at a party when he was shot in the head. It was unclear whether he would ever walk or talk again—but just two months later, the senior class president showed up at his graduation ceremony to get his diploma, Fox 2 reported.

Wearing a protective helmet with a tassel, Hollings made a speech before his fellow classmates.

“It is so good to be alive,” he said. “I got shot in the head and I am fully rehabilitated.”

The star athlete, whose injury cost him a football scholarship at a Wisconsin college, found out later that day that he had won a $50,000 scholarship. He said he plans to study pre-law or criminal justice.