Sade Robinson's, Amari Smith's families accept MATC posthumous degrees
MILWAUKEE - A graduation day filled with both joy and sadness, the families of slain teen Sade Robinson and Amari Smith, a man killed by a reckless driver, felt the bittersweet emotions.
Both were students at Milwaukee Area Technology College when they died. MATC held its 2024 spring commencement on Sunday, May 19.
Robinson's family was front and center as her sister, Adrianna Reams, walked across the stage at Fiserv Forum in her honor.
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"I’m grateful, overwhelmed, sad," her mother Sheena Scarbrough said.
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She was wearing a pink cap and gown embroidered with Sade's name to accept a posthumous degree.
"A part of it felt wrong because this is her diploma and she worked so hard to earn it," Reams said. "But I am glad to be here, to be the steps that she didn’t have."
Adrianna Reams, Sade Robinson's sister
Robinson was studying criminal justice when prosecutors say she was killed and mutilated after going on a first date in early April. She was only 19.
As her accused killer Maxwell Anderson sits in jail, Scarbrough said the occasion was bittersweet.
"Sade, I am very proud of you baby," she said. "We are all very proud. I wanted to be here seeing her receiving her own diploma."
Also receiving a posthumous diploma, Smith was killed during a police chase earlier this year. Even in death, he is still making his mother, Shanita Hill, proud.
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"I wish he was here, that’s all," Hill said. "I wish he was here."
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The 30-year-old was known for his volunteer work and was an aspiring barber.
Amari Smith's family
Prosecutors charged a man who they say was trying to run from police when he hit Smith's car at 20th and Burleigh in February.
His mother said his legacy will live on with the diploma.
"I’m happy, I’m proud, I’m sad," Hill said. "Because he’s not here to participate and this is one of his greatest accomplishments that I would have loved to have him here for."