GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Two Michigan high school seniors are leading the charge on both sides of the gun debate.
For Ellie Lancaster, it was watching the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida take their fight for change to Washington D.C. that inspired her to organize something.
"It wasn't up to adults this time to do something. As a 17 year old, I was like this is something that I have to do as a young person and someone who cares about this and cares about my life,” she explained.
Lancaster, now 18, and a friend worked with administrators to plan a walkout on March 14 as part of the national movement. Although the school district approved the plans, Lancaster says this was student-led.
She also took a lead role in getting students out for the national “March for Our Lives” in Grand Rapids on March 24. She compared the reaction to what students like her are doing today to how adults reacted to anti-Vietnam War protests in the 1960s.