Toms River Students Inspired, Unified After Newark March

TOMS RIVER, NJ — In the van on the way home from marching with thousands of other students at the March for Our Lives in Newark, a group of students from Toms River reflected on the morning's events.

"It was inspiring," one of the girls said. "It was inspiring to see that there were so many people from all over the state who thought the same way we do, to know we're not alone."

The March for Our Lives Newark, organized by a group of students including Toms River North junior Zach Dougherty, left its marks on the students from Toms River — marks of hope and of determination — as they listened to students from their home state talk about how gun violence has affected their lives. Students like Princess Saraboche of Newark and Sarah Emily Baum of Marlboro, who emphasized gun violence crosses age, gender, and racial lines.

"Gun violence is not just a social issue, it is a public health crisis," Baum said. "School shootings are just a symptom, not the illness."

Students like Frankie Walls, who shared a poem to convey what she's experienced growing up in Newark, where a stray bullet took the life of a family friend. "My mother makes me get a ride, because she doesn't want to lose me," she said.

Students like Christian Martin of Princeton, who spent hours locked down last week in his high school while Princeton police dealt with a gunman holed up at a Panera that's walking distance from his school.

"This happened on the streets I walk every day," Martin said.

And that's the common thread, the students from Toms River said: That what happened at Columbine in 1999, at Sandy Hook in 2012; in Parkland, where 17 people were gunned down Feb. 14, the shooting that prompted Saturday's marches across the country; and last week at Great Mills High School in Maryland could happen to them, at their high schools.

"We had a lockdown drill recently," one of the students said. "No one knew for sure if it was real or a drill. People were terrified."

"There were a lot of people who weren't sure what to do," another girl said, "because of what happened in Parkland," where the shooter pulled a fire alarm to lure students out of classes and into the line of fire.

The Toms River students spoke on the condition their names not be used, because they also have seen a significant backlash against those who are advocating for more strict gun laws. The backlash has included everything from verbal abuse on social media from those who disagree to, in the case of the Parkland students, outright death threats.

>> READ MORE: March For Our Lives Newark: Photos, Video

But the students said it's memories of things such as a lockdown at Toms River East in December 2014, where a photo of a firearm and a threat posted on social media prompted authorities to search the school with SWAT teams, that are pushing them to act.

"We could hear the SWAT teams banging on doors" while they searched, one girl said. "We didn't know what was happening. We were seeing tweets from friends at (Toms River) South and North saying 'Pray for East.' Teachers barricaded their doors. It was terrifying."

"Now a lockdown is normal," she said. "That shouldn't be."

"I was really grateful to see there were a lot of people who feel the same way," another girl said. "It was very important to see so many generations," another said.

There did not appear to be any counterprotesters at the Newark march, despite the deep division over the issue that exists in the country and in some parts of the state.

And despite the division and the backlash, the students said they were committed to pushing forward and continuing to work on the issue.

"I'm even more motivated," one of the girls said. "We all were so unified that we need common sense changes."

The message from the students to the adults — particularly to members of Congress — was unified and simple: Make changes, or we will vote you out.

The chants of "Enough is Enough" and "Vote Them Out" reverberated off the buildings surrounding Military Park in Newark.

And they resonated with the mothers who sheparded the trip to Newark from Toms River.

"I'm proud to be the mom of an 18-year-old right now," one mom said.

"We did a good job raising this generation," another said.

"We are the lockdown generation," one of the girls said.

"We're not going away," Dougherty said.

Photos by Karen Wall, Patch staff