Upper Arlington High School dedicated a new memorial garden on Sept. 4 honoring students who died while enrolled in the district.

The Hope Garden, located between the high school building and the tennis courts just south of Marv Moorehead Stadium, began as one family's tribute and expanded into a community-funded memorial. Mike and Tori Short lost their son Sam, a member of the Class of 2024, to cancer in April 2024 during his senior year. Sam was the first graduate of the school's 100th class.

The idea took shape when the Shorts were walking through the high school hallways, NBC4 reported. They saw displays honoring students' athletic and academic achievements, and Tori suggested honoring Sam the same way. What started as a tribute to one student expanded into a space remembering other students who died while enrolled. Plaques throughout the garden carry their names.

Six stones sit at the center of the garden, one for each member of the Short family. "Each represents someone in our family and we will always be a family of six," Tori Short told NBC4 in a Sept. 7 interview.

The garden was funded entirely through private donations. Hundreds of gifts went to the Hope Garden Fund through the Upper Arlington Education Foundation (UA+Ed), a nonprofit serving more than 6,500 students in the district. The district provided the land, according to the district's account of the dedication.

Superintendent Robert Hunt spoke at the Sept. 4 ceremony, telling the crowd the school now has "a very special place for remembering and honoring our own." Alice Finley, identified by the district as executive director of UA+Ed, said the garden reminds students they do not have to navigate grief alone.

Tori and Mike Short and their three children shared reflections at the dedication about Sam and what it meant to see his memory become part of a space built for future students.

At the Sept. 8 Board of Education meeting, Hunt praised the Shorts' work in making the garden a reality and thanked donors who contributed through the foundation.

Tori Short said the next step is installing a rock with a QR code so visitors can read about each student honored in the garden.