When I was 15, a classmate opened fire in my high school hallway, killing one student and injuring three others. I was less than 50 feet away. Terrified, I fled to the preschool across the street, where about 30-40 students and I hid in a dark, silent room, fearing the gunman might burst in. The trauma of that day changed my life forever. PTSD, five years of court proceedings, and struggling to focus in school shattered my sense of self and hope for the future.
For years, I felt burnt out and hopeless. But then, another shooting at my college, where a professor was killed, sparked a change in me. I realized the importance of sharing my story to fight gun violence. Survivors must speak out to prevent others from experiencing such horrors. No one should endure gun violence once, let alone twice. My journey from trauma to advocacy has been painful, but it has given me a new purpose: to use my story for good and strive for a safer world.
