Chattanooga students organize event for Parkland shooting anniversary

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Nearly a year later, Seo Yoon Yang still remembers the day a shooter entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and killed 17 people.

“Everyone was just in so much shock people were crying and I distinctly remember I was at my locker and my best friend, he came up to me and I’ve never seen him cry before, but he was crying because his friends were at that school and they weren’t replying to his text and he wasn’t sure if they were okay or not,” Yang said.

It was a situation that hit close to home.

At the time, Yang was a student at a school in Florida just an hour away from Stoneman Douglas High School.

“A lot of people really struggled, especially in the coming weeks, over coming to school. We’d hear like the door close or the textbook fall and all of us would jump and when we went to the bathroom we’d be scared, because it’s just so real when it happens so close,” Yang said.

Yang is now a sophomore at Signal Mountain Middle High School.

She is also a part of Chattanooga Students Leading Change.

It’s a group that’s organizing the Rally of Remembrance for the Parkland 17.

The event will remember the victims and includes three speakers.

One who personally knew one of the victims.

“We really want it to be an atmosphere where once we’re done with the presentation for the last hour or so it can be signing posters that we’re going to send to Parkland and engaging with Chattanooga Students Leading Change, more like sparking a movement, sparking discussion and really having engagement within our city about what had happened,” Yang said.

Since the incident, Yang said she feels more still needs to be done to protect students from a shooting.

“We aren’t quite at a point where I can confidently say that I feel safe of a school shooter at school. I definitely still feel like there is a possibility,” Yang said.

The Rally of Remembrance for the Parkland 17 is scheduled for this Saturday.

The event will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Miller Park.

Thursday marks the one year anniversary of the shooting.