By admin 
ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — The family and friends of a Burlington teen who died nearly two years ago are fighting for her to be honored at graduation.
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Sophie Fox was a rising junior in high school when she died of a seizure in the summer of 2024.
‘Meant so Much’
Her mother, Logan Hadley, said she had suffered from epilepsy since she was 10 years old. She said the seizures only worsened as Fox got older.
“Whenever I came home from work one day, unfortunately, … she had a seizure,” Hadley said. “And I called the ambulance and went to the hospital, but there was nothing that they could do.”
Sawyer Jones was Fox’s classmate. He is currently the senior class president for Walter M. Williams High School.
“Sophie meant so much to our class, so much to me, and it would mean the world to us students, the class of 2026, to be able to have that special moment for her mother, and for her to be able to graduate with us,” Jones said.
He worked with her mother to ask the district to honor Fox with a posthumous diploma.
‘She Should be Honored’
“We’ve reached out to the superintendent,” Hadley said. “We’ve reached out to some school board members as well. … We’re getting the same answer: … That she didn’t really graduate, so that she didn’t really complete her classes. … They say that like I don’t know that.”
Hadley worked up the courage to enter her daughter’s room one year after her daughter died. She said her room shows everything she loved.
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“She just loved a lot of things,” Hadley said. “She loved animals, she loved her friends, and she really wanted to advocate for mental health. That’s what she wanted to do in the future.”
FOX8 asked the Alamance-Burlington School System about its policies. An answer behind a policy was not provided.
A spokesperson said that “the district works to balance a ceremony that celebrates the class but also respectfully remembers the classmates that are no longer with them.”
Hadley said she got a call from the district after FOX8 inquired about the situation.
The district confirmed that they will present a diploma in honor of Fox’s memory. The district confirmed that they are working with the family to find a time to present the diploma.
Hadley said the district told her the diploma would not be presented at graduation. She said she is grateful the district reversed its decision. She wished for the opportunity to happen among the peers she would have graduated with.
“It would make me feel like every other parent that’s there to celebrate their child,” Hadley said. “That she is as equal as everyone else and that she should be honored just as they are.”
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