Montgomery Students Remember Gun Victims On Parkland Anniversary

BETHESDA, MD — On Valentine's Day last year, a teenager gunned down 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

On the anniversary of one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, a group of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School students hung 671 white T-shirts to honor the teens who died from gun violence in 2018.

Around 5:30 a.m. Thursday, while most high school students were sleeping, senior Emily Schrader and 30 of her peers hung the shirts outside the school. Each shirt carried the name and age of a teenager, ages 12 to 17, who was killed by guns last year.

"One year ago, Feb. 14, 2018, the Parkland shooting and the subsequent movement that arose from it — Parkland survivors taking a stand and leading marches, and protests, and demonstrations all across the nation — really inspired me and my fellow student activists to take a stand locally and on a national level," said Schrader, one of the organizers.

The senior helped organize a March 14, 2018, walkout that brought 3,000 students to Capital Hill and is involved in the local chapter of MoCo For Change, a social justice advocacy group that students created in the wake of the Parkland shooting. Despite those efforts, Schrader and her peers felt more needed to be done.

"As part of the B-CC effort for (MoCo For Change), we thought it'd be great to combine art and activism and sort of have an installation that serves as a physical embodiment of the scope of gun violence and the overwhelming sense of loss associated with these victims," she said.

Thank you to the thirty student volunteers who came to school before 6am to set up “Memorial to Our Lives” #ParklandStrong pic.twitter.com/Vft7HIzjTF
— Anna O'Keefe (@annaoclare) February 14, 2019

Throughout the day, people walking and driving along East-West Highway stopped to point or take out their phone to document the display.

"I think it's very powerful, like with people driving by," said Maya Kagan, a high school junior. "It sends a strong message about the magnitude of this problem."

Memorial to Our Lives - a comprehensive t-shirt installation honoring each of the 671 teenagers gunned down in 2018 - is going up TOMORROW at Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS. Drive by and remember lives cut short by gun violence. See how students are sustaining the movement. #NotOneMore pic.twitter.com/TLH6gcjJRq
— Emily Schrader (@emilycschrader) February 13, 2019

Last April, students displayed 198 T-shirts outside the high school to signify the number of teens killed in the first four months of 2018.

"We were shocked by even that number," said Schrader. "For us, that was an overwhelming sense of loss already."

By the end of 2018, the death toll had nearly tripled.

"It's crazy to think about because you have over 650 t-shirts — 650 kids. That's more than our entire senior class," said Schrader.

Getting that many shirts for this year's display required more money and volunteers. The organizers put out a call to action on various community listservs and social media platforms. Within 24 hours, they raised $1,600 for the display.

Social media also helped them reach out to students who may be interested in helping out.

"One of the great things, we realized, is that Instagram stories are the best way to rally large numbers of students to our events," said Schrader. "I'll text everyone I know — maybe 60 people at our school who might be interested and I'll say, 'hey post this on your story.' And then each of them will share it through their friends. And through that, we've gotten really large attendance at every single meeting, which allows us to do things like 400 shirts in one lunch period."

Images via Alessia Grunberger/Patch