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Shooting survivors to talk at Harvard
Event will detail their activism
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Cameron Kasky spoke at a gun control rally in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last month. He will be part of the gathering at Harvard. (RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images/File 2018)
By Steve Annear
Globe Staff

The student activists from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., who survived a school shooting last month and then used the harrowing experience to ignite a national debate on gun control are scheduled to speak at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School next week.

On March 20, Emma Gonzalez,David Hogg,Cameron Kasky, and several others will take part in a panel discussion called “#NEVERAGAIN: How Parkland Students are Changing the Conversation on Guns,’’ according to event details.

The discussion, moderated by Meighan Stone, a fellow at the Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy, will detail the work the students have accomplished since Feb. 14, when 17 students and teachers at their high school were killed by a former student.

Dustin Chiang, president of the IOP Student Advisory Committee, said the institute is enthusiastic about hosting the students, a group that has spearheaded a national conversation about enacting stricter gun-control measures in hopes of preventing yet another mass shooting.

“The Institute of Politics is looking forward to welcoming students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to the JFK Jr. Forum,’’ Chiang said in a statement to the Globe. “These students have rapidly organized a nationwide movement and are currently at the center of our country’s political discourse. We are eager to hear their insight on how young people can make a difference on issues they believe in.’’

Chiang said the discussion will focus largely on gun reform, student activism, and the students’ experiences since the shooting last month. The forum is expected to be around an hour long. People who sign up for the event will be picked through a lottery system and notified via e-mail.

Students nationwide are planning “walkouts’’ on Wednesday to draw attention to gun violence. And on March 24, the “March for Our Lives’’ will take place in Washington, D.C., with similar marches planned in other cities that same day, including Boston.

Steve Annear can be reached at steve.annear@globe.com.