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17 empty desks: Carson-Newman student honors Florida shooting victims

When Shon Jordan walked out of her class to see the rows of empty desks on the sidewalk, she says she started to cry.

Carson-Newman University may be more than 850 miles from Parkland, Florida, but when Shon Johnson walks to class now, she can't help but think of the 17 students who lost their lives in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Jordan said she wasn't expecting to walk out of class on Monday and see 17 empty desks on the sidewalk, but the image hit home.

"When I stood there and looked at them, I realized those are our desks. Chances are I've sat in those desks before, It could have been me," Jordan said.

Senior Elizabeth Dixon is the student behind the demonstration.

"I wanted to make a statement both to compel students to act and also to help visualize how many lives were lost. They were students, most of them were young like 15, 16 years old, and they sat at desks just like us," Dixon said.

"If we only respond when something like this happens, it's not going to change anything," she said. "I needed students to see this, so they would remember when they walk by this area each day that those desks were sitting here, and simply because a week or month has passed since the shooting, it doesn't mean that we as students are any less threatened and the issue is any smaller."

Students across the country like Dixon and Jordan are furthering the national conversation on gun violence.

"People have labeled us as millennials who are all about social media and their avocados or whatever, and once they've labeled you, they don't listen to what you have to say. They think, 'oh, you're a millennial. I know what you think.' And, that's not true, and I think that's really starting to show," Jordan said. "We care about our generation and our country."

"I wanted to make a statement both to compel students to act and also to help visualize how many lives were lost," Carson-Newman University student Elizabeth Dixon said. Photo courtesy Elizabeth Dixon.

"The reason we're [young people] driving this conversation is that our lawmakers are making decisions for the voters, but ultimately their decisions affect us the most. We're the students sitting in the classroom. We're the most at threat," Dixon said.

As part of her efforts, Dixon's helping her classmates write letters to send to local lawmakers and the president.

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