What to Know
- Student organizer Casey Sherman says the Parkland march is the heart of the movement, a mile from the school where 17 died
- They're expecting some 30,000 people to attend
- Parkland's March for Our Lives event begins at 10:00 a.m. at Pine Trails Park. The group will then march two miles to Stoneman Douglas
There is a flurry of activity in Parkland as a forklift heaves boxes of risers and a man climbs precariously high above lighting scaffolding. A Marjory Stoneman Douglas teen is directing it all, surrounded by nine classmates as they prepare for a march that could bring 30,000 supporters.
In the wake of the Valentine's Day mass shooting, the students have been hailed for their grass-roots movement that passed comprehensive gun reform in Florida's Republican-controlled legislature and spawned school walkouts attended by more than 1 million students across the country.
Now they're preparing for a march in Washington on Saturday and more than 800 sister marches around the world.
Student organizer Casey Sherman says the Parkland march is the heart of the movement, a mile from the school where 17 died. They're expecting some 30,000 people to attend.
"This march is about policy and changing. After everything that happened it's important," Sherman said. "There is going to be a lot of people here and they’re are all going to be here to support this movement and to support what our school has started."
Sherman, a junior at Stoneman Douglas, has been tasked with organizing the event in Parkland.
"It is personal, it’s our school, it’s Parkland. It was the safest city in America. And now here we're leading an international movement because there was shooting at our school, which is something you could never expect," Sherman said.
Parkland's March for Our Lives event begins at 10:00 a.m. at Pine Trails Park at 10555 Trails End. The group will then march two miles to Stoneman Douglas.
