Florida university to award degree to Trayvon Martin By Doug Criss, CNN Updated 3:42 PM ET, Fri May 5, 2017
(CNN)Trayvon Martin's getting a college degree.
The slain Florida teenager -- killed by George Zimmerman five years ago -- will be awarded a posthumous bachelor's degree in aeronautical science from Florida Memorial University.
Martin's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, will accept the degree on his behalf during the school's spring commencement on May 13. Fulton is an alumnus of the school, a historically black university in Miami Gardens.
The aeronautics degree is in "honor of the steps he took during his young life toward becoming a pilot," the school said in a Facebook post. Florida Memorial's Department of Aviation and Safety has a designated Cessna pilot training center, and the school also houses the Trayvon Martin Foundation.
Florida Memorial wanted to award the degree to Martin now because, if he had lived and attended the college, he would have been graduating this year, said school President Roslyn Clark Artis.