8 Years Since Parkland: We Will Never Forget

It started like any other day. Of course it did, or someone would have done something. Something to stop what was going to happen. But nobody knew. No one woke up with a premonition of the future. 

It was Valentine’s Day. Couples exchanged gifts, friends gave cards, and people were happy, spreading love to the people they loved. There were 20 minutes left in the day, and then everyone would go home. They would go home and come back tomorrow, like they always did. Like every student in America does, day after day until they graduate. 

Except, some of them wouldn’t. The date was February 14, 2018 and these students attended Marjory Stoneman High School in Parkland, Florida. At 2:21 pm that day, Nikolas Cruz entered Building 12 and assembled his semi-automatic rifle. When he encountered student Christopher McKenna in the hallway, Cruz said “You’d better get out of here, something bad’s about to happen.” 

Cruz then shot and killed three students in the hallway before wounding Ashley Baez, who was fifteen at the time. He shot through the door windows of four different classrooms, which led to the deaths of six students and thirteen others being wounded (though they would survive). He killed two staff members before going upstairs. 

On the second floor, Cruz shot into 2 classrooms but failed to kill anyone. On the third floor, he killed another faculty member and 5 more students. He tried to shoot out into the courtyard, but the hurricane windows prevented him from doing so. 

One of the classrooms that Cruz shot into that day was a Holocaust History class taught by Ivy Schamis, where students were learning a lesson on combating hate. Two of the students in that classroom were killed. 

He blended in with the fleeing students after abandoning his gun and exited the school. He was arrested 2km away at 3:41 pm. The shooting lasted only 6 minutes, but it took the lives of 17 people, 14 of which were students aged 14-18. 

“It was [my son’s] second birthday party and we had a bunch of friends over. Someone got an alert on their phone and [one of the mothers] who was at our house was from Parkland. She called her mom immediately to make sure no one they knew was affected.” recalled Ashli Fischer, 3rd grade teacher and mother of 3. “I just remember thinking ‘seventeen.’ Seventeen.”

Teachers Chris Hixon, Aaron Feis, and Scott Beigel were all killed trying to protect their students. Feis, security guard and assistant football coach, ran to Building 12 and is believed to have shielded several students from Cruz with his body before being fatally wounded. Hixon, a US Navy veteran, was the first staff member to respond to the shooting. His act of selfless bravery cost him his life. Beigel pulled students into his third floor classroom to protect them from the shooter. He sacrificed his safety for those children. 

JMS Journalism teacher Ms. Rutter was in the hospital when she learned about the Parkland shooting. “I was about to deliver my second baby (she came the next day), so I spent the entire day waiting for her and watching the tragedy on the news. It actually made me really sad, because I was so excited to have a baby, but I also saw all these parents who just lost their baby.”

Peter Wang was fifteen years old when he was killed. He was last seen wearing his JROTC uniform, holding doors open for others to escape. Alyssa Alhadeff was only 14, Parkland Soccer Club captain and full of life. She was honored by the US national women’s team on March 7th of that year. Meadow Pollack (who was an 18 years old senior) and Cara Loughran, who was 14, were killed together in the same classroom. 

Martin Anguiano, Gina Motalto, Alaina Petty, Alexander Schachter, and Jamie Guttenberg were all 14 years old. They were only freshmen, almost finished with their first year of high school. Luke Hoyer was 15, while Carmen Schentrup was 16. Nicholas Dworet, Helena Ramsay, and Joaquin Oliver were 17. They were just children. Children who were brutally slaughtered in mere minutes. 

“I was at a swim meet when I saw a memorial next to a tree. I searched the name up and found out about [Parkland].” A JMS student (who wished to remain anonymous) said. “It made me so sad. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

In 2018, I was in kindergarten. I lived in Miami, only about an hour from Parkland. My teacher did not tell my class why we had  “Code Red Drills”. She just said that we had to hide in the back of the classroom, and we had to be silent. We could not make a sound, she said, so that the bad guy would not find us. Then she stood in front of the door and waited for the drill to be over. 

“I believe school shootings are truly a dangerous problem, even though they are frequently overlooked and seen as an irrational fear.” An anonymous eighth grader explained. “They happen way more than they should, and that is a severe problem.”

“I remember the first time I learned about the Parkland shooting I was confused. I didn’t quite understand how anyone could do such a thing to children.” Bella Lomicka, JMS student, told me. “To be honest, I still don’t understand how someone could do such a thing.” 

School shootings do not only happen to some people. They do not occur in far away communities. They happen nearby, to people we know and people we love. 

In August 2025, BAK Middle School went into lockdown mode due to a shooting in the neighborhood across the street. 43 year old Lea Scott, a middle school teacher herself, shot her 75 year old father. Many students could see it happen from the windows of their classrooms. 

BAK 8th grader Ella Paulino-Grisham was there that day when the lockdown was called. “I was in Spanish class when it happened and as soon as we heard the code red drill, my teacher shut down the classroom. My friends and I were kind of crouched near the counter because there weren’t enough spots.” She recalled. “Usually during these code red drills, they say ‘this is a drill; don’t panic’, but it didn’t say it this time. And we noticed that.”

Even though there ended up being no real shooter on campus, the students had no idea. “It was genuinely one of the scariest experiences of my life because, while thankfully it wasn’t on campus, we didn’t know that at the time.” Ella mentioned. 

In the 8 years since Parkland, the amount of shootings have only gone up. From 2019 to the time of writing this article, there have been 471 school shootings. 2024 had 83 alone. It is January 27 when I’m writing this, and there has already been a school shooting. 

After the devastating Robb Elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Senator Chris Murphy gave a speech to the Senate.

 “14 kids dead in an elementary school in Texas right now. What are we doing?” Senator Murphy asked his fellow senators. “Our kids are living in fear every single time they set foot in the classroom because they think they’re going to be next.”

“Frankly, I don’t feel that hiding in the corner of the classroom with the lights off and my hands over my head is going to do anything. These shooters went to school and probably did the same drills we’re doing. I hate this world we’re growing up in where adults, and teens even, can kill children in schools.” Ava Parrinello, JMS 8th grader, stated. 

When asked how she reacts during a Code Red, 8th grader Alina Aydin said she launches “into panic mode.” 

“The idea that merciless death could be an inch away petrifies me. I don’t cry. I’m too scared for tears.” She explained. 

Another anonymous student says that during code red drills, she prays for the people she cares about and the people around her. “Whether or not you believe in that type of thing, it has saved my life more times than I can count.”

In June of 2025, demolition of Building 12 in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High began, ending in July of that year. The building where so many died no longer exists, turned to a pile of rubble. The building was originally left to serve as evidence for Cruz’s 2022 trial, where he was sentenced to life without parole. The building was described by the Tampa Bay Times as “a time capsule of that day in February, […] Textbooks and laptops sat open on desks, and wilted Valentine’s Day flowers, deflated balloons, and abandoned teddy bears were scattered amid broken glass.”

The reality of school shootings is that America is the only country where this happens, let alone regularly. The US is a developed country, one of the most powerful in the world, and yet the number one cause of death for children and teens is gun violence. 

Students around the country have protested for stricter gun laws and for safer schools. Survivors of Parkland protested outside the White House and all throughout DC, begging for something to change, all asking the same question:

When will enough be enough?