The Parkland students who created an international movement to raise awareness for gun violence after a deadly school shooting were awarded the International.
FORT LAUDERDALE Almost immediately after bullets stopped ringing out at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, and 17 students and faculty were dead, a crop of surviving students raised their voices to demand action.
They planned and led marches all around the country. They took to town halls and pressured their local public officials. Their faces were splashed on television screens and magazine covers. Their advocacy was rewarded by small, but significant changes in Florida legislation.
Three years later, many of these students are attempting to juggle the normal things young college students these days juggle: Zoom classes, relationships and thoughts about their futures. The only difference is many of them now have hundreds of thousands of followers, national platforms and all the attention that comes with that.
Three years after the Stoneman Douglas tragedy that first thrust them into the spotlight, a handful of student survivors spoke to the South Florida Sun Sentinel about what their lives are like and how they reflect on a day that changed them forever.
They planned and led marches all around the country. They took to town halls and pressured their local public officials. Their faces were splashed on television screens and magazine covers. Their advocacy was rewarded by small, but significant changes in Florida legislation.