Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.

Organizing Against Gun Violence: Gen Z in Action

Andrew Ankamah Jr., The Accountability Initiative; Advisor for Pennsylvania State Representative Amen Brown

Jaclyn Corin, Survivor of the 2018 Parkland shooting; March For Our Lives

Larren Wells, Students Demand Action, University of Pittsburgh

In the United States, gun violence remains the leading cause of death for children and teens, and school shootings have become tragically routine. On February 14, 2018, the Parkland shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School left 17 students and educators dead and marked the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook. For many Gen Z Americans, the news broke while they were sitting behind a school desk. Since that day, there have been over 1,500 school shooting incidents across the country, some with even deadlier outcomes. Beyond schools, millions of American children live in homes where at least one firearm is stored loaded and unsecured, and many can access these weapons without their parents’ knowledge. As firearm-related injuries continue to rise, young people are leading a national push for evidence-based solutions.

From promoting safe storage laws and permit-to-purchase systems to advocating for red flag legislation and community violence intervention funding, Gen Z organizers are shifting both the public conversation and the policy landscape. Their efforts helped push forward the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major federal gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years, and continue to shape grassroots action, voter engagement, and legislative lobbying at every level of government.

Joining the conversation are three powerful figures working across strategic advocacy and grassroots accountability:

• Andrew Ankamah Jr., founder of The Accountability Initiative, is leading efforts to address gun violence through grassroots accountability and justice-centered organizing.
• Jaclyn Corin is a survivor of the 2018 Parkland shooting, co-founded March For Our Lives, and now serves as executive director. She holds degrees from Harvard and Oxford and leads the movement in national strategy, voter mobilization, and holding pro-gun lawmakers accountable.
• Larren Wells is an engaged volunteer with Students Demand Action at the University of Pittsburgh, raising youth voices in Pennsylvania for safe communities and the passage of sensible gun laws.

Together, they will explore what it takes to sustain a movement, from building national infrastructure and cross-generational coalitions to dealing with political pushback and emotional fatigue. The panel will delve into each speaker’s organizing journey, day‑to‑day strategy, and vision for a future beyond violence and complacency. Attendees will gain insight into how leadership, whether born in tragedy or built through grassroots efforts, is shaping America’s next wave of gun violence prevention.

This program is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and co-sponsored by the departments of American studies, psychology, and sociology and the Center for Civic Learning and Action. The Clarke Forum’s student project managers initiated this program.  This program is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series.

Biographies (provided by the panelists)

Andrew Ankamah Jr. (biography forthcoming)

Jaclyn Corin (Leading Organizer for March For Our Lives) On February 14, 2018, Jaclyn Corin’s life changed forever after a mass shooting took the lives of 17 students and faculty at her high school in Parkland, Florida. Less than a week after the shooting, she brought 100 of her classmates on a 900-mile lobbying trip to their state capital.

The lobbying trip resulted in the passage of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, which banned bump stocks and raised the age to buy a firearm from 18 to 21 in the state of Florida. She continued her advocacy by becoming a lead organizer for the March For Our Lives, uniting more than 2 million people in 900 marches around the world during the 2018 rallies.

Following the March For Our Lives in 2018, Corin became the director of outreach for the organization, assembling local events and voter registration pushes with student advocates from all over the country. Now, Corin is a senior at Harvard University studying government, and continues to organize with and act as a spokeswoman for March For Our Lives.

Most recently, she assisted in the production of the March For Our Lives events in June 2022 following the mass elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Ahead of the event, she appeared on a number of news networks such as The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, CBS Mornings, and NPR.

Larren Wells is an English & premed biology major at the University of Pittsburgh who first started her work in anti-gun violence when she joined the Students Demand Action chapter at her high school following a school shooting in 2021. After leaving her hometown in California and arriving in Pittsburgh for college, she and a peer started a chapter of Students Demand Action at her university. Since the chapter’s beginning in 2023, Wells and her fellow club members have focused on community work, education, and in anti-gun violence legislation. In April of this year, they collaborated with representatives from Harrisburg to discuss the future of anti-gun violence work as a public health issue and on a statewide scale. Combining her background in writing and deep interest in activism, Wells is dedicated to exploring new ways she and her fellow students can make an impact in their community.