Sophomores Natalie Daskal and Senna Gardner didn’t come into their positions as organizers for Chicago’s upcoming “March for Our Lives”–a city-wide and student-led effort advocating gun control expected to see a turnout of at least 30,000–through conventional means. The two didn’t apply for the job.  They weren’t recruited. It happened because Daskal started the Facebook page.

“I watched the speeches from the students in Parkland, and I was really moved,” Daskal said. “I just assumed that ‘March for Our Lives’ Chicago already…I expected to find a Facebook page or something, but I didn’t, so I started a Facebook page, and in the next few hours a few other students contacted me, and we joined together.”

Gardner got involved after speaking with Daskal about a post on the latter’s social media.

A bona fide movement has emerged from Daskal’s original ambitions, as the 21-and-under leadership team ballooned to a dozen-plus members and now receives assistance from national organizations like Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Though plans are unfinalized, Daskal says that the Saturday, March 24 event will likely start at 11:00 am in downtown’s Union Park and consist of an hour-long rally followed by an hour-long march.

Both students see the event as a means of inspiring change with regard to an issue they hold dear.

“I understand that there have been many school shootings, but for me personally the one that really affected me was Sandy Hook,” Gardner said. “We live in a nation where someone was able to walk into a store and buy a semi-automatic weapon and then shoot up an elementary school, and nothing changed. That’s really what’s driving me to help out.”

Daskal sees her involvement as a product of the national environment rather than one specific event. “I’m doing this because I feel like the amount of gun violence in this country is so out of control,” Daskal said. “The fact that we do not have stricter gun laws is absolutely ridiculous.”

Daskal and Gardner speak with other organizers on an almost-daily basis, supplemented further by in-person sessions each Sunday. In addition to Parker, the organizing cohort consists of students from Lane Tech, Whitney Young, Loyola Academy, Plainfield South High School, Oak Park River Forest High School, Hoffman Estates High School, and the University of Chicago.

Upper school history teacher Dan Greenstone, Gardner’s advisor, sees the “March for Our Lives” movement as reminiscent of youth political movements in the 1960s and ‘70s.  He noted current demographic shifts similar to those of the politically active Baby Boomers.

“It is unique within the last couple decades to see students take leadership, not just locally but nationally, on an issue of such significance,” Greenstone said. “We’re in a newly political era where people are really engaged–on both sides–and I think that this really fits with that.”

Daskal recognizes the once-in-a-generation opportunity presented by “March for Our Lives” and seeks to make the most of it. “Our goal is to push for action from both sides of the aisle,” she said.  “The youth, the future of this country, care so much about this issue, and it is their job to fix what the rest of the country wants to be fixed–to just compromise and save lives that are being lost.”