Activist and Survivor of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting Encourages Iona Students to Push for Change
Activist Jaclyn Corin, a survivor of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018, recently spoke with Iona students during the College’s annual celebration of the Week of the Peacemaker.
Credit: Jaclyn Corin
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - Activist Jaclyn Corin, a survivor of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018, recently spoke with Iona students during the College’s annual celebration of the Week of the Peacemaker.
The Peacemaker events are meant to shine a light on a social justice issue, and this year’s theme, “Guns and Roses: A New Dialogue on Violence in the U.S.A.,” was centered around gun violence.
“The charge of the Week of the Peacemaker is grounded in our commitment as a College in the Catholic tradition ‘to scrutinize the signs of the times’ and to relate them to a faith that proclaims justice and peace as vital,” said Carl Procario-Foley, Ph.D., director of the Office of Mission and Ministry, which hosted the event.
“The topic of gun violence relates directly to a whole set of issues of human life and dignity, which are integral to Catholic Social Teaching,” Procario-Foley added. “We always want students to learn something new about the issue, examine their own rationale on the complex issue of gun violence, and to hear another perspective.”
Presentations and workshops were held during the week of November 3 – 8, allowing the Iona community to participate in discussions and share ideas.
One panel titled “Intention of Prevention” discussed the facts and statistics of gun violence while also sharing how individuals can be aware and know the signs of potentially dangerous situations. Social work major Christina Marquez ’20 attended this panel and observed, “Shootings have become too prevalent and gun culture is so in our face but we are so desensitized to it. The music we listen to on a daily basis and the phrases we use – a majority have gun violence thrown in and we do not bat an eye. This presentation opened my eyes and made me more aware of the gun culture and my stance in it.”
Associate professor of marketing Eric Hamerman, Ph.D., lead the presentation “Vice Marketing: How Marketing Principles Explain Gun Proliferation.”
“It's important for the business school to be represented in this conversation, because the manufacture, sale, advertising and distribution of guns (and other "vice products") can be explained by basic marketing principles, and studies have shown that gun proliferation is correlated with gun violence,” Hamerman said. “I hope that my presentation gave students a better understanding of how the concepts in their business school classes can be used as a framework for thinking about solutions for larger societal issues.”
To conclude the week, students, faculty and staff packed the Christopher J. Murphy Auditorium to listen to keynote speaker, Jaclyn Corin. Now a freshman at Harvard University, Corin says that the tragic shooting at her high school has given her a new role in life. She says her passion is to serve and encourage others to be more active in their communities. Corin once wanted to be a nurse and attend the University of Florida but now finds herself at Harvard studying sociology and government law.
Corin stated that she feared the media coverage of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School would fade quickly, as she had seen happen with other shootings, but she was determined to not let that occur. She became a lead organizer for the March for Our Lives movement in Washington D.C., which was attended by over one million people, and 800 other local marches around the world in March 2018.
From minimum age purchasing requirements to restrictions on concealed carry permits, localities across the nation have enacted many new gun laws since Parkland. “Young people can induce change by holding our representatives accountable,” said Corin. Her hopes for the future are that young people can be more successful in changing legislation on a national level.
Iona College students, faculty, staff and alumni collaborate on campus and with local, national and international communities to share the mission of service, justice and spirituality.
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Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of more than 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona students enjoy small class sizes, engaged professors and a wide array of academic programs across the School of Arts & Science; LaPenta School of Business; NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences; and Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Iona is widely recognized in prestigious rankings, including The Princeton Review’s 2025 national list of “The Best 390 Colleges” and The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse’s “2024 Best Colleges in America,” which ranked Iona at #66 in the nation overall and #8 in the nation among Catholic schools. Iona’s LaPenta School of Business is also accredited by AACSB International, a recognition awarded to just six percent of business schools worldwide. In addition, The Princeton Review recognized Iona’s on-campus MBA program as a “Best Business School for 2023.” Iona also offers a fully online MBA program for even greater flexibility. In July 2021, Iona announced the establishment of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, which is now principally located on Iona’s Bronxville campus in collaboration with NewYork-Presbyterian. Connecting to its Irish heritage, the University also recently announced it is expanding abroad with a new campus in County Mayo, Ireland. A school on the rise, Iona officially changed its status from College to University on July 1, 2022, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.