It was hot and humid, just like every other day in Florida going to school. I was waiting for the time to pass during class when suddenly I heard the announcements and the alarms. “Lockdown I repeat, lockdown”, not knowing what happened or if this lockdown was a drill or not, me and my friends took cover in the closet holding each other's shaking hands. One of my classmates pulled out her phone and checked the media because no one knew exactly what was happening.

”What’s happening?” I asked.

“There is a shooter in our school.” She could barely say shooter from the fear of it happening at our school right now.

Asking ourselves what to do, we stayed there trying to stay calm. Hearing some gunshots around the hallways we thought this was it. The sound of the gun shots were like fireworks, the only difference was that the fireworks weren’t going up, it was going sideways directly hitting the hallway shelves that had trophies in them. I saw some send a “good bye” or “I love you” massage to their loved ones. Some having their last minute regrets with what they did in the past.

Eventually SWAT came to take us out of the school. All of us that were in the classroom ran as fast as we could heading outside. We were saved, I thought. Well the ones that were in the same classroom as me. I broke down into tears when I heard my friend was one of the students who got shot. I couldn’t understand who in the world would start shooting up the school. I thought we were saved, but we weren’t because all of us didn’t come out safely from the school.

When the shooter came out of the school with SWAT members besides him, we could all recognize the shooter.

“Nikolas Cruz. No way he was the shooter?” one of my classmates said in shock.

“I knew it, Nikolas was the shooter,” Ella said with disgust.

Nikolas was a student in school that was reported multiple times by other students for bad behavior, was expelled, and was mentaly disturbed.

More and more, people started to recognize Nikolas. Thinking about how he got those guns because not only the students but the whole neighborhood knew he wasn't sane. Next day our English class had a debate about the second amendment.

“So guys, what do you think about the second amendment?” Mr. Brown, our English teacher, asked in curiosity.

“I like how Japan does it. Civilians can’t own a gun. I thought we should do it like Japan does it, but now I think it’ll be harder for our country to start taking all of the guns all of a sudden.” I said with passion.

“Why not? Every gun owner has to register their guns when they purchase them.” The person next to me asked in confusion.

“Because they ship illegal guns to our country. If we take guns that are registered, those people who did the right thing don't have guns anymore but those who have illegally smuggled guns would still keep them.” I said hoping to clear the confusion.

“I agree with the second amendment though. If you don’t have a gun and you're up against a person who is aiming a gun at you, what are you going to do? Throw a knife? Guns aren’t killing people, people are killing people. Buying guns though is just too easy if you think about it.” Cameron said.

From that moment our whole class knew we needed to do something about this situation with guns because thinking and talking about it with peers wasn’t going to bring change.

At school we had many ideas and many decisions we had to make regarding this issue. For me what caught my attention was making speeches. I thought that by making a speech in public, my voice would be heard, and they could see the effect I put into making a change. People know the story but not from the victims. The decision we made was to have a speech in public since I was the one who volunteered first to give a speech.

When practicing writing the script, we put all of our thoughts in it. Our class did a ton of research, most about the NRA,”National Rifle Association”. The moment we found out that the NRA makes more money after massive gun shooting events enraged us. The only thing the government did for our school was send condolences and while we suffered and grieved from the losses of our friends, the NRA made more money. The NRA that stands for the second amendment, the same amendment that killed 17 people in our school. The world definitely needs to hear this. I couldn’t wait to make a speech about this, I was so ready.

On the day of the speech, I thought there wasn’t going to be a lot of people but there were more people than I expected including the media. It made me nervous to think I was the center of everything but knowing that this would be on the news made me realize that more people would hear what I have to say.

“I stand here representing Stoneman Douglas High School. Before I start, I would like to have a moment of silence for those who lost their lives during the school shooting.” I gave about 6 minutes of silence because that was the amount of time we were in the school during that time.

“First of all, thank you to those who have come here today with friends and families to listen to this speech while we should all be grieving of the losses of our loved ones. I am here today to try and make a change in our country because all the government can do is send thoughts and prayers. When I heard that Nikolas Cruz was the shooter, I was not surprised. He was reported at school and to police, expelled from school, and showed many signs that he was mentaly disturbed. The people who sold those guns to him should've known those behaviors when doing the background check on. But people need to know that it is not only his mental problems because he would’ve not harmed as many people with a knife. What about the people who sold him the gun? The people who saw him with a weapon heading to school? People need to look at the actual problem because his mental issue wasn’t the only problem. When researching the NRA, I found out that after mass shooting events their sales go up. While we were grieving from the losses the NRA made more money. We call BS! They say tougher gun laws don't decrease gun violence we call BS! They say that we kids are too young to understand this situation we call BS! ”

After the speech, there were a lot of people who started to think like we do because of the publicity. We got many offers from different people to have an interview. They even started a trend “#wecallBS”. There was a lot of good news that came but bad news as well. Of course some people didn’t agree with my speech and what my classmates and I were trying to tell people. However, after the speech, many supporters contacted us asking what they could do to help. My friend Cameron and many other planned for another speech with me. We called it “March for our lives”.

The March for Our Lives even took place in Washington D.C. Millions of people came to watch the speech since it was planned a while ago and the date and location was announced. Unlike the first speech event I held, more people in the program I made were making their own speeches too. People were wearing shirts that said “I call BS” on them or some said “we need to change” This made me happy, the world was listening to me now.Some posts on social media that said some companies don’t support the NRA anymore. I made a difference, I thought to myself. This was just the start. I will keep inspiring people to vote and to have an opinion. To let people hear their voice and make a change for a better future for the next generation.

I always wished that I was never in the shooting event that happened at school. That it made me terrified to look in front of me, to look at the future. Now I’m glad that I was in it because it made me realise things that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t go through it. Everyone has a voice. It is worth it to let people hear it and you should never hide it.