Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

#MSDStrong: A Documentary by Parkland Students Featuring Healing, Resilience

What to Know

  • TV production students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School created a documentary over the tragedy.
  • The 30-minute documentary highlights the school's recovery and the anti-gun violence activism of students.
  • Seventeen people were fatally shot at the school on Feb. 14.

In the weeks following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, global news organizations have shared numerous stories on the tragedy. Now, the students are telling their story from their very own viewpoint through a documentary.

The 30-minute "#MSDStrong" documentary addresses the complicated subject of the deadly shooting and the aftermath.

"This was our way to show how our school is rebuilding and healing from this," student Zakari Kostzer said.

In 10 school days, the students of a television production class produced the documentary that showcases the school's recovery and the remarkable activism of their peers.

The majority of the documentary deals with the emotional healing of the community following the shooting in which 17 people were killed.

“We’ve really come together in all of this. We’ve healed each other," someone in the documentary says. "We’ve gone through everything together, even though some of us didn’t know the, we’ve all kinda felt that pain of their absence.”

TV production teacher Eric Garner said the project’s focus was always to honor the victims.

"In their way, without the media, everyone else kinda asking them the story," Garner said. "This was their way of telling the story, which I think was powerful.”

Garner reached out to schools throughout the country for video and soundbites, which are included in the documentary.

Students at local schools also helped edit one section of the video to help the MSD students meet the deadline: Christopher Columbus High School in Miami and Seminole Ridge High School in Palm Beach County.

Parkland will be the location for the "March for Our Lives" event on Saturday, which is being organized by students with the support of the Everytown for Gun Safety nonprofit.

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