Parkland survivors to visit NZ
TWENTY-EIGHT survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida will meet members of a New Zealand student group set up after the Christchurch earthquakes.
Seventeen people died at the US school in February, and surviving students have since campaigned for tougher gun laws in the US, organising huge rallies across the country.
The group of US students will come to New Zealand in July to talk to the Student Volunteer Army, which was formed by Sam Johnson to help fellow residents struggling after the initial Christchurch quake in 2010. Hundreds of students helped clear 65,000 tonnes of silt from properties, and the group has since helped out other communities in New Zealand.
Members of both student groups will meet in Christchurch to talk about their experiences and discuss how to maintain the momentum of student groups formed in response to a crisis.
Most of the US students’ time will be spent in Christchurch, with a trip to Wellington to meet GovernorGeneral Dame Patsy Reddy.
SVA president Josh Blackmore believes its model can help the Parkland students.
‘‘We want to make the summit not all about school shootings and not all about earthquakes; it needs to be about students engaging with their communities, making change and keeping their cause sustainable,’’ he told the Listener.
One of the visitors, Delaney Tarr, addressed one of the March for Our AP Lives rallies in the US. ‘‘The importance of youth empowerment is international. Going to New Zealand will, hopefully, show me more of that international passion, and how other people empower their own communities,’’ she told the Listener.