Student activists from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida will speak at AU on Oct. 9, the Kennedy Political Union announced today.
David Hogg, Jaclyn Corin and Samantha Fuentes will have a discussion on voting, gun control and activism as part of the Larissa Gerstel Critical Literacy and Social Justice Symposium, hosted by KPU, the School of Education and the Washington College of Law. The three are survivors of one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, which happened in February of this year.
Since the shooting, the three students have become national advocates for gun violence prevention. They have worked to lobby Congress and together helped to organize the March for Our Lives, which drew 450,000 attendees in Washington and millions at another 800 estimated marches around the world in March.
The symposium was established 12 years ago to celebrate Larissa Gerstel, an AU education alumna who died in 2005. The symposium highlights scholarship and education practices related to critical literacy and pedagogy and leverages the expertise of AU faculty and guest lecturers to create an environment for sharing best practices and discussion, the release said.
At AU, students were personally affected by the shooting, including senior Sarah Selcer, a Parkland native who sold T-shirts bearing the words “AU Students Stand Strong With Parkland” to raise money for a student hospitalized after the shooting. Other students were involved in organizing delegations to the march.
Several student organizations also attended the D.C. March for Our Lives, including Fossil Free AU and AU College Democrats, among others.
The Oct. 9 event with the three student activists will take place in Bender Arena at 7 p.m. Tickets for the event are free, but must be reserved through Eventbrite and are only available to the AU community. To be admitted into the event, students must have their ticket and AU ID which matches their name.
Tickets will be released on Eventbrite on the following dates:
- Monday, Oct. 1 - 8:15 p.m.
- Tuesday, Oct. 2 - 12:45 p.m.
- Wednesday, Oct. 3 - 8:00 a.m.
This article has been corrected to reflect that the event is Oct. 9.
