SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (NEXSTAR) -- Malachi Hill-Massey will walk across the stage at the Bank of Springfield Center on Saturday and get his high school diploma.

He will have family, friends and mentors in the crowd, but he will have his mother -- Sonya Massey -- with him on stage in spirit.

"This is all my mom really wanted for me," Hill-Massey said. "She wanted me to graduate. It;s a mission completed to me."

It's been 11 months since Sonya Massey was shot and killed in her home by former Sangamon County Sheriff's Deputy Sean Grayson. Those 11 months have been chaotic for Malachi as he balanced his schoolwork, his job, his rage and his love for his mother. While her death has inspired fear, anger and righteousness for people across the country, her memory inspired him to get to this finish

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