Perry High School classes of 2014, 2024 work together on memorial after Jan. 4 shootings

A large rock sits at the corner of the Perry High School parking lot. It's been painted a myriad of colors over the years, including most recently Perry Bluejays blue, to mark occasions both happy and heartrending.

The rock now has a fresh coat of bright blue paint along with a large “P,” the words “Once a Bluejay, Always a Bluejay” and “RIP Ahmir.”

Ahmir Jolliff, an 11-year-old Perry Middle School student, was killed in the Jan. 4 shootings at Perry High that also fatally wounded the principal, Dan Marburger, and wounded four other students and two staff members. Ahmir’s funeral was held Thursday and arrangements are pending for Marburger, who died early Sunday in a Des Moines hospital.

“The rock was always kind of a community symbol of unity and strength with all of the (school) events that are placed there, whether it be the athletic team winning a championship or the Technology Student Association team going on to state,” said Joseph Lechuga, who as president of the Class of 2014.

It's not the first time the rock has been painted to remember lost classmates and teachers, including Perry senior Melanie Gonzalez, 18, who drowned in May 2021, and industrial technology teacher, Chad Morman, 39, who was killed in April 2023 in a single-vehicle crash on Highway 141.

“My sophomore year we were hit with a tragedy, we lost a really good friend, Alex Macias, and we painted the rock for him,” said Ixchel Ochoa, a member of the Class of 2014. “To celebrate the good times and honor classmates, we definitely put it on the rock.”

Classes come together for one cause

As soon as Lechuga heard the news of the shooting, he talked with his class vice president and Ochoa to see how the Class of 2014 could help. Painting the rock immediately came to mind.

“This is what we can do to make an immediate impact and let everyone know that we’re here and that we are Perry Strong and we have Bluejay pride,” Lechuga said.

He credits the Class of 2024 for leading the charge to get the rock painted.

Kaitlyn Leber, senior class president, had been brainstorming ideas of how her class could help with her aunt, Ochoa, who came from Indianola on Jan. 4 to be with family after hearing about the shootings. Leber and Ochoa soon started talking about having the two classes partner to paint the rock.

“The next day we came together and decided that we thought it would be a cool idea for the Class of 2014 and the Class of 2024 for a 10-year kind of reunion to work together,” Leber said.

She also had the idea of decorating the fence along the football field after hearing about her aunt decorating it for homecoming when she was a cheerleader at Perry.

“When she mentioned that Friday evening, I was like, ‘I got you, we’ll help you, we’ll figure out some way to get a donation,’” Ochoa said.

Lechuga said they received a gift of paint from Menards in Grimes. Ochoa donated blue and red cups to be pushed into the fence's chain link to spell out “Perry Strong.”

Members of both classes came together on the morning of Jan. 6 to paint the rock aafter getting clearance from the authorities, as the high school was still a crime scene.

“It really shows how we can come together as a whole to like help after a tragedy,” Leber said. “I just felt it was really heartwarming to come together with a different class that’s not even my own and work together for one cause.”

'Confusion and shock': Perry students, graduates react to shooting

Leber wasn’t at the school when the shooting happened on the morning of Jan. 4, as many of the seniors have late starts following Des Moines Area Community College classes.

“I got a phone call and I heard was there’s a shooting at the school. Right away, my heart dropped and I had to call my family,” she said. “I didn’t even know what to feel because I was in so much shock that this would happen in my own community.”

Ochoa heard the news from her boyfriend, though she didn’t believe what he was telling her at first.

“I was in a state of shock. I was like ‘are you kidding me, this is actually happening?’ Not just in Iowa, but this is happening in my hometown. That’s my old high school. This is real life. Just confusion and shock,” Ochoa said.

Though she now lives in Indianola, she said, “Perry is always going to be home.”

“I feel like anyone that has a connection to Perry at all, is affected by this,” Ochoa said.

Perry community sees wave of support

Leber has appreciated seeing everyone come together in the wake of the shootings.

“As a student, it just really warms my heart to see not only our own community coming together but all of the surrounding communities,” she said. “Helping our school, supporting us, it just really shows that no matter any differences that anybody has, we all can come together. In times of need, everybody is there for each other.”

More: Perry gets wave of support from surrounding school districts after shooting

Ochoa has seen that same support on the local, state and even national levels.

“I’m not that surprised, but I’m very, very grateful that the great state of Iowa has our back. Nationwide, I would say I’m very surprised but also grateful because I feel like no one knew where Perry, Iowa, was at. Now all of a sudden here we are on the map and yet we have many, many people from all over the states supporting us. It’s been amazing to see the amount of support from everyone involved.”

More: Perry organizer hopes to raise $100,000 to help families, including shooter's

Multiple fundraisers have popped up since the Jan. 4 shooting, with more likely to come.

“I just want to thank everybody for being so quick with coming up with fundraisers and supporting all the families of the victims,” Leber said.

She encourages everyone to donate if they’re able.

“Just really help out in any way that they can,” she added.

Finding a way to heal

The full scope of what happened during the Jan. 4 shooting hit Ochoa while she was washing off the paint after painting the rock.

“I was scrubbing my hands Saturday night and all of a sudden it hit me and I started bawling because I thought to myself, ‘Man, I’ll probably never paint that rock ever again and the one time that I do, it’s for that?’” she said.

When she painted the rock while a student at Perry High School, it was for happier occasions like homecoming.

“It finally hit me Saturday night that it’s not just my family, my nieces and nephews in school or my brother who was part of the team that day as law enforcement who are extremely affected by this,” Ochoa said. “It’s just the thought that it happened in the hallways where I made the best memories. Not just for myself, but for every other student that has ever stepped foot in that building. My heart is with them, because everyone is affected by this in some sort of way.”

More: Perry Strong: Town calls for helping each other heal after shooting — and says it's begun

While Lechuga couldn’t imagine something like the Jan. 4 shootings happening at Perry High, he immediately started thinking of ways to help.

Painting the rock was a natural place to start, he said, as it’s as much a tradition as teams ringing the victory bell in front of the school after a win.

“That same day, my class got together immediately and were already brainstorming how best to pick up these pieces and heal and just stand strong together and show that everybody has our support during this time,” he said. “We would love to stand side by side with everybody.”

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Classes separated by decade work together on Perry High memorial