UCF students head to D.C. for march

Things were different when UCF student Lauren Schwartz returned to her hometown last week for spring break.

The park where the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School graduate spent her childhood had been transformed into a memorial — 17 crosses dotted the field, each representing a life lost during the tragedy at her alma mater. One of them was for her 14-year-old neighbor, Alaina Petty.

“The 17 separate crosses made me realize how many people died,” said Schwartz, 19. “I think this should never happen again.”

On Friday, Schwartz joined more than 100 University of Central Florida students — several of them Stoneman Douglas graduates — on a bus bound for Washington, D.C., for the March for Our Lives.

The national march — organized by survivors of the Parkland shooting with the support of Everytown for Gun Safety, a group that advocates for victims of gun violence — aims to persuade elected officials to enact laws that would prevent a similar tragedy from happening.

More than 800 similar marches will take place worldwide, including one at Lake Eola Park in Orlando.

Stoneman Douglas graduate Coralie Morin originally intended to fly to the march by herself but realized that more students may want to join her.

She planned to organize a bus trip for Stoneman Douglas graduates, but the demand from other students was too great.

In less than a month, she was able to secure funding for two buses to take about 105 students to the nation’s capital. They will join the expected 500,000 participants in the March For Our Lives on Saturday.

The route will take marchers down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the White House and toward the U.S. Capitol.

The students will ride through the night for 17 hours to get to the march. Once it’s over, they’ll hop back on for another 17-hour ride back.

“Just because we’re young doesn’t mean we don’t know what’s going on in the world,” said Morin, 22. “There will be something different in the future when we are in charge.”

The buses are funded by donations and an activity and service fee that every student pays as part of their tuition. The UCF trip is apolitical — overtly political or derogatory signs aren’t allowed off the bus.

“We want every student, regardless of political affiliation, to come,” Morin said. “This isn’t a political issue — it’s a human issue.”

When Schwartz went to a planning meeting for the march earlier this week, she said she recognized about a dozen people she hadn’t seen since high school.

“I was one of the girls who hated high school,” she said. “Now I feel a sense of pride for my school. I’ve been talking to a lot of people I haven’t talked to in a while. It brings me back.”

Stephanie Fado, 21, another Stoneman Douglas graduate, said she decided she wanted to march after hearing stories from her friend’s siblings about having to step over bodies after the shooting.

She said although she isn’t looking forward to the bus ride, she feels compelled to join her college and high school classmates at the march.

“If we live our whole lives assuming nothing’s going to change, nothing will change,” she said.

“This isn’t a political issue — it’s a human issue.” UCF student and event organizer Coralie Morin, a Stoneman Douglas graduate