Hundreds of thousands of people across the country joined the March For Our Lives movement March 24 in more than 500 cities around the world. The movement, which was started after 17 students and faculty were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14. in Parkland, Fla., has grown to include many Jewish students in St. Louis. For these teens, participating in the march was only the beginning of their plans to take action against gun violence.

Zoë Rosenberg, a senior at Parkway Central High School, is a student leader advocating for common sense gun laws. Alongside her peers, she led a walkout at Parkway Central and a press conference to protest gun violence. She helped start a gun violence prevention club at her school and is part of the Students Demand Action group in St. Louis. 

But Rosenberg’s activism isn’t stopping there. As a member of the Students Demand Action group, she has promoted efforts to end gun violence, and is involved in the committee’s event April 20, a student protest in front of Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley’s office at noon.

“To plan the walkout and protest, Students Demand Action St. Louis has been meeting weekly and working out transportation, advertising and all sorts of things,” Rosenberg said. “We hope to bring attention to the problem of gun violence in Missouri and convince our legislators to vote gun smart.”

Rosenberg is not the only one who has joined the efforts to prevent and end gun violence. Many other local Jewish students have been acting as student advocates and trying to spread awareness about the issue, including Lauren Bayne, a junior at Marquette High School.

Bayne worked with Rabbi Jonah Zinn of Congregation Shaare Emeth to organize a trip to the national March For Our Lives in Washington, D.C. for a delegation of Jewish high school students. Bayne, Zinn, and seven other Shaare Emeth participants joined teens from the North American Federation of Temple Youth to march with members of all ages from the Union for Reform Judaism to call for change in both their local communities and the nation. 

“When I first heard about Parkland, I wanted to organize a group for the St. Louis march, thinking it was more practical,” Bayne said. “I wanted to attend the march to show my solidarity and speak out so that these tragedies no longer happen. Gun violence is an epidemic and I want to be a part of the solution.”

The group joined in with the rest of NFTY and the URJ for Shabbat services, programming and a pre-march rally. Much of the Jewish community joined in these events. 

“At Washington Hebrew, they had a Shabbat for Our Lives service filled with teen speakers from NFTY regions, including speakers from Parkland,” Bayne said. “I got the chance to talk to kids from across the country and it felt so unifying as we all came together for this important cause.”

Bayne was inspired by seeing so many members of the Jewish community come together. She recalled that a highlight of the trip was hearing from  Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz at the URJ pre-march rally.  Schultz spoke about the need for legislation preventing gun violence. 

“Having so many Jews in one room, from the teens to adults dedicating their day to pass the baton to us, was so uplifting. Having your whole community behind you is so essential—it helped magnify my small impact,” Bayne added.

When it came time to march on Saturday morning, the group of teens were ready to “pray with their feet,” a term used to describe representing Jewish values by taking action. The Shaare Emeth teen delegation joined thousands of others at the march.

 “All of these teens were so moving with their stories and calls to action,” Bayne said. “My favorite speech was from an 11-year-old girl named Naomi. For a girl so young, even compared to us teens, she was so poised and gives me hope that even beyond the current high schoolers, the drive for social justice will march on.”

Zinn said he was inspired by the action and leadership of teens from his own temple as well as the Jewish teens who attended from across the country.

“It was very meaningful to witness the passion our teens have for social justice and their willingness to devote their time and energy to repairing our word,” Zinn said. “[They] affirmed their commitment to the Jewish values of justice and ensuring the sanctity of human life. I was moved by how the March spurred them to get move involved in this important issue in their schools and broader community.”