Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – They have a shared experience of pain, and this week kids from Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County are traveling to Parkland, Florida to have a shared experience of healing with kids from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Five weeks after a gunman opened fired at Stoneman Douglas High School killing 17 people, a Great Mills High School student shot and killed his ex-girlfriend in the school.
Rising senior at Great Mills Jaxon O’Mara said the Parkland kids reached out to her and her classmates after Jaelynn Willey was shot to death. Now, after months of texting and talking on the phone, O’Mara and three of her classmates are on their way to Parkland to meet their new friends in person. Capital Gazette shooting survivor Selene San Felice is joining them to document the journey for the Capital.
“There’s no amount of therapy that can make up for seeing them and hugging them in person and having that feeling of reassurance that they understand what you went through as well, and it’s just like pure love,” O’Mara told WMAL Wednesday while driving through North Carolina with Great Mills graduate Mollie Davis and San Felice. They will meet up with their other two classmates, who are flying to Florida, later in the trip.
San Felice raised $3,000 on GoFundMe to pay for the travel expenses for her and her classmates.
Thursday O’Mara, Davis and San Felice will drive to Orlando and visit a memorial for the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016. Later in the day they will film with a documentary crew and meet with a Parkland student. Saturday there will be a larger meet up with Parkland students at a home. O’Mara said they will paint rocks and spend a few hours together sharing their experiences and healing.
Copyright 2018 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Jaxon O’Mara)
