Although I never had any experience in community organizing or political activism, I was able to find a way to use my skills to make a difference.
I remember sitting in my classroom and hearing about the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. On February 14, 2018, there was a shooting at a high school in Florida, killing 17 people. It was a surreal moment, seeing the violent videos of what had happened, seeing those students in classrooms just like the one I was sitting in. It was an event that not only traumatized kids throughout the country. It also made them question the structures that were supposed to be protecting them.
Throughout the nation, students took initiative to fight against the violence we witnessed. My peers and I decided to take part in the National School Walkout against gun violence. As high school seniors, my friends and I took the lead in organizing the protest. We held after-school meetings, making posters for the protest and discussing how we could make a direct impact within our small community. We learned how to speak up when we felt the school administration was not hearing us out when it came to the protests, not wanting us to walk out of school. We learned to stand up for our right to a safe school space.
As my friends began to plan protests, I felt a bit powerless at first. I doubted myself, thinking because I didn’t plan on running for congress or becoming a diplomat, there was no space for me to make a real change. Although I never had any experience in community organizing or political activism, I was able to find a way to use my skills to make a difference. I had previously taken an interest in design and screen printing shirts, selling my designs on shirts throughout the school. Through this passion, I came up with the idea of creating t-shirts for our walk out and donate the proceeds to the March for Our Lives Foundation.
The shirts were a huge success. I produced 40+ tees and donated over $100, which went towards funding gun reform and fighting the gun lobby. It made me completely reevaluate the ways in which I could make a change in my community. I realized everyone has unique powers they can use to make a societal impact. From florists to scientists and everyone in between, everyone has a skill set that can be used as a tool to enact and disrupt the social inequities we encounter in our everyday life. As young girls, we can often doubt ourselves and invalidate our abilities. Although it is easy to do, our weakest moments are where we find our strength. We show the world how truly capable we are by using our unique talents and interests to change it. Through protest, policy change, technological advances, and culture shifts, everyone has a platform to create a revolution.
By Rosie Haase
Design Intern, Spring 2020
This piece has been edited for brevity and clarity
