‘My life is not normal. It will never be like before.’

Jammal Lemy ,21

The 2017 Stoneman Douglas graduate co-founded the March for Our Lives organization after the shooting, though he is not among the group’s well-known leaders. He left college to help with merchandising, but became the organization’s creative director after he designed a T-shirt that could be scanned with a cellphone to register someone to vote.

I still haven’t grieved. We just had so much going on. I don’t want to think of the day my life changed. Thursday is going to be like a train: It’s all going to hit.

When you’re on the road, people look at you like a leader. It’s physically exhausting and you don’t want to burn out. We toured 60-plus cities in 60 days. We’ve seen the high and low of America. It forces a lot of soul-searching. Almost every day I think to myself, “Wow, look where we’ve come.” It was my first time being away from my family for an extended period of time. Before, I had been on an airplane maybe three times.

I created T-shirts with QR codes for people to register to vote. We told people we want all the kids in the country to be wearing these shirts, and we had people tell us, “You can’t. You’ve got to have realistic hopes and dreams.” Well, we have lofty goals! I was at a concert, and I saw a random person wearing this T-shirt. Those are the small victories. We had the largest youth turnout in 25 years — but it was still only 31 percent.

I left college because you have to choose what’s more important. I want to use my talents and abilities to change the world somehow. That’s what I want to be remembered for, more than a grade-point average.

Jammal Lemy, a 2017 Stoneman Douglas graduate, co-founded the March for Our Lives organization after the school’s mass shooting. He left college to help with merchandising and became the organization’s creative director.