Florida high school senior Anna Zamora never thought she’d be spending the remainder of her senior year planning a march in D.C. to lobby for a change in gun policy. Instead, she thought she’d be dress shopping for prom.
“I thought I would be thinking about prom or worrying about graduation. But instead, I fit this into my agenda and I was just grateful for people at school and work that just stood by me,” Zamora said.
High school seniors from Parkland, Fla. put their end-of-the-year plans on hold to travel 1,131 miles to show support of their neighborhood by participating in March For Our Lives, an anti-gun violence rally held in Washington D.C. on March 24.
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Growing up came a lot faster for these Parkland teens. In addition to Zamora, Maya Locke and Eliza Jaen were among the group of Florida Atlantic University High School students who traveled to Washington, D.C. to represent their hometown.
“When you see this kind of atrocity happen in your neighborhood, you expect politicians and congressmen and senators to act upon and do something the thing that they didn’t, that they’re kind on in opposition to what the students wanted it really brought us here to try to draw change,” Jaen said.
Zamora, who lives just two blocks away from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, went to middle school with all of the students at Douglas so she knew most of the students who lost their lives, including Jamie Guttenberg, whom she danced with.
“I remember all these people and I still keep in contact with all the people at Douglas, so seeing how badly they were affected every day passing by Douglas,” Zamora said. “I encounter this every day. So that’s why I felt so strongly about it. I’ve never really felt so strongly a political movement before.”
Even those who didn’t attend Marjory Stoneman Douglas felt the effects of the shooting. According to Locke, the mood in South Florida has felt different for the past month.
“It feels like it’s happening to everybody. People who don’t know people that go to Douglas, they all have friends who know them, or have been to the rallies. Everybody had a connection,” said Locke.
Their original plans were to fly just a few students up to Washington, D.C., but when the school sent out an email asking for volunteers to go, the response was overwhelming. They didn’t raise enough money for everyone to fly, so students used a little creativity to bring everyone along.
“We did all sorts of transportation except boat,” Zamora said. “We went in a car, then a plane, then the train, and the metro.”
The students woke up at 5 a.m. to travel four hours north to Orlando, Fla. where they flew to Baltimore and then took a train to Washington, D.C. From there, they got on the metro and met up with Sherry Cohen, a D.C. resident who offered to house the group of students over the weekend.
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Students were surprised by all of the support they received at the nation’s capital. Multiple families in the D.C. area hosted students who had nowhere to stay. They provided potlucks, and restaurants offered free meals.
“Coming here has given us hope and humanity. We never thought people could be so generous,” Locke said. “People see us and just know what we’re doing there.”
On the train, a woman gave them free portable phone chargers.
“She’s like, ‘What do you plan on writing on your signs?’ And I hadn’t really put much thought into it yet,” Zamora said. “She had been an elementary school teacher for ten years and she said she remembers them having stranger drills all the time, so she was going to write on her sign, ‘should we add bullet proof vests to our school supply list?’”
The students spent their Friday night creating posters at Cohen’s house while enjoying pasta and pizza to gear up for Saturday’s march. They succeeded in their mission to join other supporters for three hours in honor of their friends and neighbors who lost their lives. One of their signs read, “the Owls support the Eagles,” meaning that their school, FAU High, supports the Douglas Eagles.