Two Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students are making a stop at a Cleveland-area synagogue Friday to share their experience during the Feb. 14th shooting that took the lives of their classmates and teachers. They’re working with the Jewish community across the country to inspire them to vote for candidates who will support stricter gun laws.
Sixteen-year-old Mandi Jaffe was in her Spanish class when a fire alarm sent students all over the Parkland high school’s campus out of their classrooms. Mandi was quickly pulled into the front office where she and her classmates waited for more than two hours after they’d gotten word of the shooting.
“Some people were pulling up the news on their phone, others were getting text messages from family because that’s when it was already on the news,” she said.
Her twin brother, Harris, was in his finance class in a separate building, but the two were able to text each other and their parents during the ordeal.
Now, the Jewish teens are working with their fellow survivors to end school shootings, they say by registering people, young and old, to vote for change. At Temple Emanuel Elin Orange, Harris says they’ll be sharing that same message.
“You can make change no matter how old you are. And yes, I may be 16-years-old, but I am personally seeing myself making a change and making an impact on other people’s lives," he said.
