DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) – Students from across South Florida have begun arriving in Washington D.C. on Thursday, ahead of the March For Our Lives event.
March For Our Lives, a demonstration organized by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students, is calling for gun reform and school safety and will take place Saturday in Washington D.C.
Activists will join the students for the march to demand change from government officials.
Students from Stoneman Douglas also left from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Friday morning.
“I think this is going to be a real moment of change in this country,” said a student.
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A group of 200 students from Stoneman Douglas were sponsored by Giffords, a gun safety organization founded by former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and retired NASA astronaut Captain Mark Kelly, to attend the march.
Five buses took off from the Coral Springs-Parkland area at around 11 a.m., as about 250 people began the long journey to the nation’s capital. Many of the passengers are Stoneman Douglas students who were on waiting lists and were unable to find a flight.
Another group of students from Miami Norland Senior High School boarded a bus at around 6 a.m. on Thursday to begin their journey to D.C.
Precious Symonette, who teaches creative writing at Miami Norland Senior High School, said some of her students will participate in the march.
“It’s life-altering,” said Symonette. “Many of the things that they’re gonna be doing on this trip is definitely gonna give them an outlook about life.”
“I just feel empowered,” said high school senior Shatony Rivers. “Students have a voice.”
“To kind of incite a change, it’s to show the people who aren’t doing anything, the lawmakers, the government, that there’s a huge following for gun control, that we matter,” said MSD teacher Carrae Cusano.
MSD history teacher Greg Pittman said the march places these students into a position of leadership. “[I tell them], ‘You all are going to be leaders of our towns, of our county, of the state and the country, and one day you’re gonna be leaders,'” he said. “Little did I know that one day was going to be today.”
Some students, including shooting survivor Sam Fuentes, have already arrived in D.C. in preparation for the event.
Around 100 students came together with the help of social media and the Inner City Alumni for Responsible Education organization. They will join the hundreds of thousands of people planning to walk through the streets of Washington D.C., demanding a change in gun laws.
“I think this is gonna be a real moment of change in this country,” said MSD freshman David Allen, “and I think there is going to be a decision on gun control that is going to be made.”
The trip includes more than the march. Students are also set to meet with lawmakers.
“I think this is important,” said one woman headed to D.C. “They’re talking about gun violence, something that they deal with every single day, and I think that having them be a part of this experience gives them the opportunity to tell those stories as well.”
An organizer for the group of inner-city high school students leaving from Miami said kids reached out to her about what they could do to take action.
“The youth reached out to me to see how they wanted to get involved,” said community activist Valencia Gunder, “so we decided to just go ahead and pull this thing together.”
Gunder also said she hopes to help bridge the gap between mass shootings and shootings in communities.
A host of sibling marches will be taking place across the country in conjunction with the main march in Washington D.C.
“It’s not just a community event,” said MSD junior Yanelle Ayala. “It’s more like a nation-wide event … and there’s a whole bunch of marches happening in so many other places besides Florida, so it’s pretty cool to watch and be a part of.”
More than a million people could descend on Washington, D.C. with Stoneman Douglas this weekend, including adults, celebrities, activists and lawmakers from across the country.
But it’s the children who will be leading the way. “It’s really good we get to demonstrate how much we know at an age where kids are usually thought about as stupid or like, not knowledgeable,” said MSD junior Logan Green as he prepared to board his flight at FLL, “even though we’re going through these classes and courses where we are learning more about our current society and current events, more than most adults do.”
About 80 percent of the MSD student body is expected to attend the march.
If you would like to march in solidarity, click here for a complete list of locations throughout South Florida.
The students who left from the Parkland area by bus are expected to arrive in the nation’s capital at around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday. 7News is along for the ride.
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