On Feb. 14, Marlborough hosted an event in commemoration of the Stoneman Douglas High School School shooting in Parkland, Florida, that took the lives of 14 children and three faculty members. The event was organized by Sophia ‘23 in association with her chapter of an organization called Team Enough.
Team Enough is a teen-led nationwide organization that strives to end the gun violence epidemic in America by educating people and raising awareness while simultaneously lobbying for gun control on both federal and state levels.
“We are arguing for an assault weapon ban federally because data has proven that that decreases the amount of mass murders and overall gun violence,” member of Team Enough, Emma ‘25 said.
Yassinger is a leader of Team Enough’s LA branch, and she works with other teenagers in the greater Los Angeles area to combat gun violence. Sophia also established a chapter of the organization at Marlborough and hopes to see student membership grow over time through various events.
“It’s beautiful to think that, at our school, we can stand together and say something about it,” Sophia said when discussing gun violence.
The event was held in the gym and included two basketball mini-games of knockout and a postcard writing activity to U.S. senators to advocate for a federal ban on assault weapons.
Yassinger gave a speech during the event that brought attention to another school shooting that took place on Feb. 13 at Michigan State University.
“Today is not the only day that we should be thinking about working to end gun violence,” Sophia said in her speech.
Her speech advocated against insufficient regulations on firearms and was followed by a reading of names to remember the Parkland school shooting victims.
When questioned about her thoughts in regard to the event, Marlborough student and attendee of the event, Dolores ‘25, emphasized its importance at Marlborough.
“Like Parkland, Marlborough is a high school and a middle school, and I think it’s easy to separate that event from what’s going on in our campus, but they are very closely related, so I think it’s important that we spread awareness of it and hopefully make a change,” Dolores said.
Sophia hopes that the Marlborough event has brought more attention to the issue of gun violence and encourages student involvement through the Team Enough chapter at Marlborough.
Students also wore orange to raise awareness about gun violence and acknowledge survivors as a part of Moms Demand Action’s 9th annual “Wear Orange” campaign. The campaign began after various gun violence incidents became a prevalent issue in America.
