How Student Journalists Are Commemorating Their Friends and Teachers

Students at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Eagle Eye newspaper publish their memorial issue after 17 were killed at their high school

by Nathalie Sczublewski

Published on April 6, 2018

As students awaited for the final bell of the day to release them for spring break, students at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Eagle Eye newspaper submitted their most important issue to print. The third quarter, special edition paper is a memorial issue honoring 14 of their classmates and three educators killed on February 14.

There isn’t a handbook that teaches journalists how to cover mass shootings. There isn’t a handbook that teaches people how to recover from a mass shooting either. The Eagle Eye staff are mass shooting survivors and lost friends and teachers. For some, they found that immersing into writing was therapeutic in their healing process. Others found it difficult at times to report stories. The class established a support system by assisting those who struggled to compose an article due to the subject matter.

Calls for curbing gun violence continue at South Florida town hall

by Nathalie Sczublewski

Published on April 4, 2018

With students, teachers and family members of victims of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in attendance, Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch hosted a town-hall meeting Tuesday evening to address legislation to prevent gun violence.
“We are here because the brave families who lost loved ones at Stoneman Douglas have stood up and through their courage, have set examples for the rest of us in all of the ways we should be looking to keep our schools safe and to prevent something like this from ever happening again,” Deutch said during the event at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts in Broward County. “And we also have to express our gratitude to the student survivors who have not allowed this issue to go by the wayside.”

TOWN HALL MEETING HELD WITH EVERYTOWN AND MOMS DEMAND ACTION

Published February 19, 2018

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CORAL SPRINGS, February 19, 2018 — Parents, teachers and students attended a town hall meeting organized by Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense and students at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts in Coral Springs on Monday afternoon.

The meeting was put together as part of the aftermath of a mass shooting in Parkland that killed 14 students and three educators this past Wednesday when a former student entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, armed with an AK-15 rifle.

“A week ago from today, if you asked me what the number 17 meant, I would say it’s my age,” said Alex Wind, a junior at the high school. “But now, 17 is more than a number. It’s Alyssa, it’s Scott, it’s Martin, it’s Nick, it’s Aaron, it’s Jaime, it’s Chris, it’s Luke, it’s Cara, it’s Gina, it’s Joaquin, it’s Alaina, it’s Meadow, it’s Helena, it’s Alex, it’s Carmen and it’s Peter.”

Speakers at the town hall included students and teachers from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, leaders in Everytown and Moms Demand Action such as Ashley Cech and her mother Yvonne Cech, a fourth-grade teacher who survived the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL).

NEGRON: PICTURES ‘DID NOT PREPARE US FOR THE HORRENDOUS SIGHT’

Published to The News Service of Florida on February 16, 2018.

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PARKLAND — U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Florida Senate leaders visited Broward County on Friday as the community continued to reel from a mass shooting this week that killed 17 people at a Parkland high school.

Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, Senate Minority Leader Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, and Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Fort Lauderdale, went to Broward Health, where they met with medical workers who treated victims of Wednesday’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, according to Negron’s office.
They also met with family members, hospitalized victims and Broward County schools Superintendent Robert Runcie and saw parts of the high school.

DeSantis Launches Governor’s Bid as “Principled Conservative”

by Nathalie Sczublewski

For News Service of Florida published Jan. 29, 2018

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BOCA RATON, Fla. – Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis walked across the stage Monday as the late rocker Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” played in a crowded room at a Boca Raton hotel.

DeSantis stood at the podium with a giant American flag and a Florida flag in the background as he formally launched his 2018 bid for governor.

“Ron is a man who is running for the right reasons,” DeSantis’ wife, Casey, said. “He knows in his heart that he has the strength and courage to do what he knows to be right.”

After thanking his wife for his introduction, DeSantis thanked the crowd gathered at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Boca Raton.