The day of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School ten years ago was one of the most perplexing days of high school student Naomi Alvarado’s life.
The present-day high school student at the Academy of Information Technology & Engineering was a pupil at Hart Magnet Elementary School in the second grade. A fire alarm went off as she and her classmates sang the “Water Cycle Song” on December 14, 2012. During lockdown drills, she and her classmates practiced hiding under cubbies.
Alvarado addressed a group of around 50 individuals gathered outside Ferguson Library in Stamford on Wednesday night, saying, “The fast drill grew into 30 minutes, then two hours.”
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Finally, Alvarado’s teacher looked at her phone and started crying. A visiting instructor from a different course moved the class into a separate classroom.
Even the walls could not muffle the sound of Alvarado’s teacher sobbing. “I had no idea what was going on. All of us didn’t.
Days later, the educator told her class that she had started crying because she had just learned that her nephew was one of the 20 pupils killed by the shooter who entered Sandy Hook that day.
“I wish I could conclude my story here, but I can’t because there have been more threats against schools and major massacres yearly, “added Alvarado.
She was one of a select number of speakers who discussed their experiences with and opinions on gun violence during a vigil held by the Enough Campaign, a Stamford-based organization dedicated to ending gun violence. In remembrance of the anniversary of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, which claimed the lives of 26 people, including 20 children aged 6 to 7, the organization holds the vigil every year.
The shooting happened ten years ago this year.
The memorial was held outside and featured a 26-second silence in remembrance of the Newtown shooting victims, as well as a performance by sixth-grader Lily O’Connor from Scofield Magnet Middle School, who sang “Hallelujah.”
Mayor Caroline Simmons declared 2022 the deadliest year for mass shootings in American history while standing next to a group of lit candles on the steps of the Ferguson Library. Nineteen kids and two staff members were shot and killed inside an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and ten people were killed inside a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, all in May. Five individuals died, and numerous more were injured inside an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs just one month ago.
“That’s not acceptable. In addition to remembering the lives lost and the victims today, we are also here to declare that “enough is enough” and that we will no longer tolerate gun violence in our nation, “Simmons remarked.
Other speakers included Keyli Maldonado and Laura Sanchez from Stamford High School, activist Wilner Joseph from Stamford, whose brother’s murder in Bridgeport in 2017 inspired him to start the after-school program Young Athletes 4 Change at Cloonan Middle School, Dana Horowitz, and Barry Woods from the Stamford Boys & Girls Club, who oversees outreach and young adult programming.
In 1992, a shooter assassinated Horowitz’s father, Bruce Horowitz, in her Hamden, Connecticut, hometown.
Several speakers emphasized that the victims and their families do not just feel the cost of gun violence.
While Zoe Goldberg, a senior at AITE, never had the horrifying experience of being in a school where an active shooter had gained admission, she spoke about the trauma she witnessed as a student.
In the second grade, Stillmeadow Elementary School, according to Goldberg, went into lockdown one day.
She claimed that she and her classmates waited for hours while seated in a dark area.
According to Goldberg, one of her pals started crying after realizing she may pass away.
Goldberg recalled, “I remember sitting there trying to console her and our teacher hustling us, scared that if we made too much noise, someone might come to our door.
As the loud explosions continued, she recalled becoming more afraid that a shooter was inside the school. The door of the classroom she was in was then pounded again.
And this time, she continued, “I assumed it was the shooter.” “Happily, I was mistaken. This time, a policeman was involved.”
According to Goldberg, the school had been placed in lockdown due to a mistake made by a substitute teacher; there had not been a shooter inside the facility that day.
I still don’t know what the first pair of bangs my classmates and I heard were, she remarked. But I can still clearly recall the fear it left in my classmates’ minds.
Alvarado encouraged the audience to continue pushing for change.
“It saddens me that today’s events resemble those that occurred at Sandy Hook, “She stated. “Therefore, as we remember those who perished at Sandy Hook today, let’s also recognize them by working to end gun violence. We can only bring about change by increasing knowledge, promoting peace, and upholding rights.