Emotions were high Saturday during a 5K run in memory of Scott Beigel – a teacher from Long Island who was killed in the 2018 Parkland school shooting.

Nearly 300 runners hit the pavement for the third annual Run for Beigel at Heckscher State Park.

Linda Beigel Schulman, Scott’s mother, says she started the foundation in her son's name because he loved to run and help kids. Over the last two years, the run has helped send hundreds of underprivileged kids to go to sleep away camp.

“There is a piece of Scott's heart in every one of these campers we sent to camp,” she said. “So when I see those kids with those smiles and so happy, it’s really like seeing a piece of Scott.”

On Wednesday, Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty in a Florida courtroom to all charges related to the mass shooting that took Scott's and 16 other lives. Prosecutors plan to pursue the death penalty for Cruz when the sentencing phase of his trial begins in January.

Even though the plea closes one chapter in a dark history for Scott’s mother, the run will open new ones.

“After the week I've had, this is the biggest uplift of spirit that anybody could ever ask for,” she said.

The foundation hopes to raise around $300,000 from the run and other donations to hopefully send a record number of kids to camp next summer.