Emma González was a high school student in Parkland, Florida, when a mass gunman killed 17 people at her school on Valentine’s Day in 2018. It was the worst high school shooting in US history.

Emma González was just 18 years old when 17 of her friends were murdered in the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. Several of the students became prominent activists for gun legislation reform as a result of their experience, and they took their cause to social media and organized events in 2018. She continued to campaign for gun reform, making high-profile media appearances and assisting in the organization of the March for Our Lives, which became the largest student protest in American history.

González, a Latina-American of Cuban heritage, delivered a strong speech in front of hundreds of thousands of people, criticizing lawmakers for their lack of action on gun control reform, repeating the phrase, “We call B.S.” In her speech at the demonstration, González mentioned each victim by name, followed by a sorrowful and heartbreaking six minutes and twenty seconds  of silence to mark the time of the Parkland shooter’s rampage. González, the daughter of Cuban immigrants, grew up in Parkland and was president of the gay-straight alliance at her high school. Emma Gonzalez, now a college student, continues her advocacy on Twitter, where she has 1.6 million followers under the account @Emma4Change.