MIAMI – Ricky Pope is a junior at Northwestern Senior High School and knows the pain of losing classmates to gun violence.
"Bodies drop every day around here. It makes no sense. Kids die," Pope said. "You don't want to learn anything when you're feeling that pain in your heart about the friends and people you lost."
His troubling experience may be different from last month's mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, but he and other students have the same goal as the Parkland activists.
"My ninth-grade year, I had about two friends that died from gun violence," Northwestern student Jamesha Corker said. "These kids are young. All we get in school is on the announcements: 'Can we get a moment of silence.' A moment of silence isn't going to bring back these kids' lives."
The students were among the marchers this weekend in Washington, urging lawmakers to do more to curb gun violence.
ICare, an alumni organization in Liberty City sponsored a trip for 40 high school students from inner-city communities in Miami to go to the march in Washington.
"Our kids see that type of violence every day of their lives," said William Clark, president of ICare. "We wanted to join forces with those in Parkland and around the country to expand the narrative."
These students have now returned to their community. Their biggest setback has been exposure and support from their colleagues, but now they have a remedy.