March For Our Lives, a series of rallies that took place across the nation in protest of gun violence, featured teenagers who wanted to speak their minds about gun control to large crowds of people all there for the same cause.
While 15 thousand people attended the march in Tampa, senior Bella Cruz-O’Grady got to help make the rally come together as well as perform a poem there.
“It was an incredible experience to look out and realize all of those people were with me, all of these people cared about my life, and my peers lives,” said Cruz-O’Grady.
Her poem was titled “Blizzard,” playing off the common phrase “special snowflake,” that is used to describe people who feel that their voice needs to be heard, even when others think that they “aren’t special.” She originally wrote this poem as a response to her feelings about the Parkland shooting.
“I generally use poetry as an outlet, I will stay up at night writing a poem, especially when I’m angry,” said Cruz-O’Grady.
Not only did she get to perform at the rally, but she also helped to make it come together, as well as get the word out about it to the press.
Cruz-O’Grady overall thought ththe rally was a huge success and that performing there was an amazing opportunity.
“Afterwords, I had many touching experiences with people. It was like as I was walking off the stage, one of the girls who organized it, Brook Shapiro, came up and hugged me and she was like ‘That was beautiful.’ People were telling me it was such an amazing piece, and one woman walked up to me and literally just held my hand, looked into my eyes, and then walked away. It was just the best feeling to be able to impact people,” said Cruz-O’Grady.
Sadie Testa-Secca // Co-News Editor
