Fla. high school students hitting the road
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students plan to take bus tours across the country this summer to promote change after the shooting at their school that killed 17 people in February.
The effort involves encouraging young people to register to vote and championing gun control by naming politicians who accept donations from the National Rifle Association.
In March, hundreds of thousands of young people rallied in Washington and across America to press for gun control. Now, the student activists from the Parkland school want to create national momentum again by traveling to meet as many people as possible and win their support.
They may include victims of gun violence, gun owners and student leaders who galvanized support in their cities.
March for Our Lives’ “Road to Change” is a natural progression in the movement to “harness the energy” to make politicians accountable, said student activist Cameron Kasky. “Real change is brought about by getting out there and making politicians accountable. … We can fix the political system; we can make it better.”
Donations from across the country to their cause will pay for their hotel stays along the way and pay the bus company. Students said the donations came through their website. A spokesperson for a PR and marketing agency assisting the students could not estimate the cost of the tour.
Diego Pfeiffer, who just graduated from Stoneman Douglas, said the initiative was too important to pass up. He’ll be participating instead of starting college classes over the summer at the University of Miami.
”This is my No. 1 priority,” he said. “Right now, I’m changing America.”
“Even after the summer, we’re not going away until this epidemic is cured,” said Jaclyn Corin, an incoming senior — and the class president — who has been instrumental in the movement. Corin is a fellow dance-team member of Jaime Guttenberg, one of the 17 who were killed. She said she is motivated to keep going until “we can end this senseless violence across this nation.”
About two dozen students leave June 15 on the 60-day trip broken into two groups.
One bus will cover Florida. The students will talk to voters about Adam Putnam, the state agriculture commissioner running for governor. He wrote on Twitter “I’m a proud #NRASellout!” in July.
Gov. Rick Scott, who is running the Senate, is also on their list. “He doesn’t listen because he has his eyes on the prize, which is NRA money,” Corin said.
The students on the Florida tour will make 27 stops, visiting every congressional district. The students’ second bus will visit at least 50 cities in about 20 states, including Iowa, Texas, California, South Carolina and Connecticut.
“We’ll eat when we need to eat. We’ll sleep when we need to sleep,” said Ryan Deitsch, who just graduated from Stoneman Douglas and will join national bus tour. “We’re trying to not waste a single moment on the tour.”
Corin quit her summer job as a counselor at a sleep-away camp in Georgia, and her friends have walked away from their own summer jobs and college study plans.
“This is our life now,” Corin said. “I believe us doing this. I do believe it’s going to make a difference.”