Students Against School Shootings One Year After Parkland
February 15, 2019
Over a dozen students scribbled respectful yet stern letters to their representatives, copying templates set on the tables. But Nina Lavezzo-Stecopolous ’20 had something else in mind.
“Bobby Boy! Laws do work; actually making them is your JOB. You ruined Valentine’s Day. Please listen to your constituents,” her letter wrote.
On Valentine’s Day exactly one year ago, 17 people were shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. City High’s Students Against School Shootings organized an event to remember the victims of February 14th, 2018. The group held a letter writing session in the Commons to write both thankful letters to their representatives who support gun control and letters demanding action to the representatives opposed to gun control. They also wrote a group letter to the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, thanking them for their persistence and strength. The students wrote letters to their representatives to tell them different things.
“I want them to know that in a year, I will be voting,” Sam Myers-Verhage ’20 said.
Even after one year since the shooting, the students are still demanding action. In the year, states have passed 76 gun control laws according to the New York Times. However, Iowa has not passed any gun control legislature, and instead, some representatives are trying to amend the Iowa Constitution in order to expand gun owners’ rights. Students Against School Shootings is trying to change that. They will be holding a march in March to continue to demand action until their voices are heard by the Iowa state government.
