Emma González

High school should have ended differently for Emma González. As a senior and President of the Gay-Straight Alliance at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., her biggest concern was her college plans. That is, until February 14, 2018, when 17 people were killed in a mass shooting at her school. In that moment, González went from student to survivor. Days later, she became a nationally-known activist for her blunt and passionate speeches calling for gun control. “We call B.S.!” became her signature call-and-response cry. “The people in the government who are voted into power are lying to us…,” she said at a rally in Florida days after the shooting. “And us kids seem to be the only ones who notice and are prepared to call B.S.” Since then, González — who identifies as bisexual — became one of a handful of Parkland students to become the face of the #NeverAgain movement. She’s been called an icon, profiled in numerous publications, and featured with her fellow students on the cover of Time magazine. Together, Parkland students organized the March for Our Lives protests in Washington, D.C., and around the country, in March 2018. González’s speech in front of thousands of protesters once again went viral. There, she took the stage for exactly as long as it took the Parkland shooter to kill his victims. She stood silent for six minutes in what many journalists (and spectators) hailed as one of the most powerful moments of protest in recent history. —SEJ