“All children, no matter their country of origin, deserve to feel safe in their schools, their streets, and their homes.”
At Tom Tom 2019, Jaclyn Corin described the experience of transforming tragedy into social action. A student from Parkland, Florida, Corin survived a mass shooting that killed 17 of her classmates and teachers. Immediately, she—and the entire Parkland community—was tasked with defining a new normal.
Less than a week after the shooting, Corin mobilized 100 of her classmates and brought them on a lobbying trip to their State Capital. Soon after, she continued her advocacy and became a lead organizer of the March For Our Lives, “one of the largest youth-led protests in U.S. history, where about 1 million people joined…[the] fight.” Recently accepted to Harvard, Corin remains in constant contact with student leaders from around the country, organizing local events and voter registration pushes.
Revisit her unforgettable Tom Tom speech and experience her inspiring message below.
Special thanks to VPM PBS for capturing the footage, and hosting sponsors, UVA’s Curry School of Education and Human Development and the Manning Family Foundation.
Corin explains how her memories have left her permanently transformed and describes finding her community at the epicenter of an international conversation.
“There is a hero and changemaker in every young person,” Corin says, and March For Our Lives seeks to bring out that untapped potential in youth across the country.
Corin encourages her peers to be “relentless in [their] quest for justice” and expresses confidence that her generation will reinstate empathy across America.
Corin responds to a question from Catherine Bradshaw, Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development at UVA’s Curry School of Education and Human Development, and underscores the importance of March For Our Lives being a movement led by youth, for youth.