Four students were shot in Liz Stout's AP Psychology class nearly one year ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
"He fired into our room, he never entered," Stout recalled. "I remember looking at the door waiting for him to open it. We had all accepted we were going to die, we knew it."
One of those students died on Feb. 14, 2018. And Stout, who now suffers from PTSD, has been dreading next Thursday for weeks.
"In January, I was getting anxious about February even approaching us," she said.
But instead of letting sadness take over, Stout decided to channel her pain into something positive.
Now a freshman at the University of Florida, she created #17DayCelebration, a social media movement to pay tribute to each person who died at MSD that day.
"It’s definitely helping me, I think without this I would be more stressed," she said. "Each day I can positively honor each victim."
For 17 days leading up to Feb. 14, each victim has one day to be remembered for what they loved or what they were known for. For instance, on Feb. 3, people were encouraged to wear orange for Jaime Guttenberg. On Jan. 30, people ran for Scott Beigel, the social studies teacher witnesses say died pushing students into a classroom to protect them.
Local
"We’ve had tremendous positive feedback all over the country," Stout said. "I was looking out for the parents and hoped … the first person I saw answer was Ryan Petty. He said it was beautiful, and I started crying. I was so happy he liked it, and the post blew up itself, so much great feedback from parents and everyone at Douglas."
On Friday, everyone is encouraged to listen to Frank Ocean in honor of Joaquin Oliver.
"I’ll make sure I’ll wear my headphones all day, listening to Frank Ocean all day long," said Joaquin's father, Manuel Oliver.
Broward County School Board member Lori Alhadeff's daughter Alyssa was killed in the shooting. On Jan. 29, people enjoyed the outdoors to pay tribute to her.
"Way too often everything just focuses on the shooter, and we forget about the ones that were lost," Alhadeff said. "So I think it’s amazing that they’re taking 17 days to honor each of the 17."
Carmen Schentrup, who was killed in Stout's class that day, is being honored the last of the 17 days.
"She was with me when she was killed," Stout said. "She and her family mean so much to me. I wanted to honor her the day before because she means so much to me and she deserves that last day."
