A call for change

On Valentine’s Day, sophomore Ananya Rajagopal was coming back home from a tiring track and field practice when she first came across the news of the school shooting in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. In complete shock, she couldn’t register the fact that this shooting could have easily happened in any other high school — like MVHS.

“Honestly, [shootings in schools] have happened so many times,” Rajagopal said. “It's devastating but the reason why this one hit me hard was the fact that we are high schoolers and that this could have easily happened here.”

The school shooting in Parkland, Fl., which resulted in the deaths of 17 people, sparked the start of more serious conversations on gun control, as MSDHS students have begun rallying. It has spurred students to rise up and demand for action to be immediately taken. Students in the MVHS campus have also started to raise more awareness of this issue to their peers.

“We’ve grown up in a world where people [tell kids,] ‘You’ve got to be a leader,” Rajagopal said. “This is when kids are actually applying it. They are like ‘Hey, we can do something and this is something that affects us and that’s why we are going to change things.’”

Rajagopal is one of the many students who are eager to participate in the National School Walkout, which is taking place on March 13. She posts on Instagram daily to remind her followers to participate.

She explains that even though attending the walkout might not be a big deal to her followers, it keeps the stories of the countless victims of school shootings alive and shows that as students, they have the power to bring change to something. She also believes that the more people participating in the walkout, the more attention it will get from people with the authority to change things.

“I wasn’t sure if [participating in the walkout] was going to have any impact,” Rajagopal said. “The truth is, we are the ones who are still keeping the shooting in the news. This will help to keep it in the news, so that actual laws and motions can be passed.”

Similarly, teachers are also faced with the same grief and shock that students are feeling — chemistry teacher Mia Onodera and math teacher Sushma Bana are no exceptions.

Growing up in Arizona, Onodera used to live in a community where owning guns were part of an individual’s daily life. However, she personally believes in tighter gun regulations. Times have changed since she grew up in Arizona. Schools have tightened school security by better preparing students to be more aware and always having high alert staff and security, according to CNN.

However, Onodera thinks that due to the fact that school shootings have happened so many times, instead of schools being more meticulous during drills, they have stopped taking them seriously.

“I think drills are very important, especially because you can't predict what's going to happen,” Onodera said. “I think people need to be thinking more in-depth as far as the protocol. Just having a plan and people following [protocol] is professional requirement that doesn't necessarily get followed well.”

Bana agrees with Onodera, explaining that guns aren’t something that is normally part of functioning society. Although she understands why people who live in cities with high crime rates carry small handguns, Bana doesn’t comprehend why anyone can just walk into a store and buy a weapon.

“I truly believe that semi-automatic or automatic assault weapons have absolutely zero place in a civilized society,” Bana said. “As an 18 year old, you are not allowed to buy a cigarette for yourself but you can walk into a store and buy an AR-15, which makes absolutely no sense.”

The aftermath of the shooting also identified more than just the shooter as the culprit — the National Rifle Association (NRA). According to Business Insider, the NRA have strong influences on the Republican party, and also spent more than 50 million dollars trying to secure gun rights in 2016. Onodera and Rajagopal are both glad that people are starting to realize that the NRA holds too much power, especially in the light of recent events.

“The NRA is both good and bad,” Onodera said. “I think they have way too much political sway. In the past they have pushed an agenda based on power as opposed to the best things for our nation, so I think it is good that some people are making a stand [against them].”

In just January and February alone, 18 school shootings have occured in the U.S. With the stories of these countless lives lost, people have started more bravely voicing their opinions, for a call for change, and Rajagopal believes that this starts with students.

“Everybody has been telling these students that they are gonna be tomorrow's leaders,” Rajagopal said. “But [the students] are taking it one step further, and saying that ‘No, we are today's leaders because if the government isn't gonna do anything we are going to push them [into doing something]."