Video and reporting by Manoli Figetakis

Francis Lewis students took to the streets in Washington D.C. on March 24 to demand gun control. They were among the hundreds of thousands of participants attending the March For Our Lives. ACLU Club President and organizer Ivan Daquial reflected on the experience.

“It was just amazing, because it’s not everyday that you see thousands of young leaders going to the streets and voicing out their opinions, not caring what the adults have to say,” Daquial said. ”It was a lot of emotions: Happiness, sadness, grief, anger.”

Students from the Global Advocates Club and the ACLU Club chanted along with the crowd from the front of the capital to Pennsylvania Avenue.

Guest speakers, including Parkland shooting survivors, took to the stage to voice their opinions on government prioritization of safety in our communities.

One of the event’s highlights was when Yolanda Renee King, MLK’s 11-year-old granddaughter, started a community chant, “One we are the future. Two we want to be louder. Three we want justice for our students.”

“It’s really [about] being a part of this massive movement to bring change to society,” Daquial said.

Written by Crystal Lam and Katelyn Chau