In the wake of last week's [school shooting](https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/a347kj/remembering-the-victims-of-the-parkland-mass-shooting) in Parkland, Florida, [young people are angry](https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/kzpppx/teens-tell-us-why-theyre-protesting-after-the-parkland-shooting): angry at the NRA, at [lawmakers reluctant to take action on gun control](https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/pammgg/here-are-all-the-times-marco-rubio-was-shut-down-at-the-cnn-town-hall-on-gun-control), and at President Trump. Despite the president's ["thoughts and prayers,"](https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/xw5a8d/stoneman-douglas-students-dont-want-your-condolences) [talking points on empathy](https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/neqqwk/trump-proposes-arming-teachers-while-meeting-with-parkland-survivors), and [break with the NRA](https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/evm5ja/trump-only-supports-gun-control-that-the-nra-supports), he hasn't done much to quell the outrage people around the country are feeling after 17 students and staff died at an American high school.

Now it looks like Trump couldn't even manage to console recovering survivors over the phone, like Samantha Fuentes, 18, who got a call from the president while she was still in the hospital. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School senior, who had been shot in both legs and still had shrapnel behind her eye, said she'd "never been so unimpressed by a person in my life."

"He didn&#x2019;t make me feel better in the slightest," Fuentes told the [_New York Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/22/us/politics/trump-talking-points.html). "He said he heard that I was a big fan of his, and then he said, 'I&#x2019;m a big fan of yours too,'" she added. "I'm pretty sure he made that up."

It was the first bizarre exchange in what would turn out to be a painfully awkward conversation, Fuentes said. Trump allegedly went on to call [suspected shooter Nikolas Cruz](https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/kzp7yw/nikolas-cruz-florida-shooter-guns-knives-hunting) a "sick puppy."

Kaltura Player

Fuentes is now just one of many Marjory Stoneman students who hasn't been afraid to speak truth to power in the wake of the school shooting. A handful of survivors have already become activists, [leading rousing speeches](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxD3o-9H1lY), challenging politicians and [NRA leaders](https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/02/22/emma-gonzalez-dana-loesch-full-parkland-town-hall.cnn), [planning massive rallies](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/organizers-plan-for-500000-attendees-at-march-for-our-lives-rally-in-washington/2018/02/22/a9ff1992-17f9-11e8-8ac5-84161111ace0_story.html?utm_term=.51448d96dc6f), and even facing down [right-wing conspiracy theories](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/02/21/i-am-not-a-crisis-actor-florida-teens-fire-back-at-right-wing-conspiracy-theorists/?utm_term=.d68db7dcc9b9), all to fight for stronger [gun control](https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/qvew8p/neveragain-how-the-teens-who-survived-nikolas-cruzs-shooting-at-marjory-stoneman-douglas-launched-an-anti-gun-movement).

Fuentes was released from the hospital shortly after speaking with President Trump, and she now says she hopes to be "a voice to what happened."

"My survival is important now more than ever," the teenager told [_Inside Edition_](http://www.insideedition.com/parkland-school-shooting-survivor-samantha-fuentes-leaves-hospital-still-has-shrapnel-behind-her). "I think it is important for people to have a physical reminder of what it looks like. That is why I am showing my face. I am not very shameful of it at all because it is truth."

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_**Related: Teens Tell Us Why They're Protesting After the Parkland Shooting**_

Generation Z have grown up in a world where active shooter threats and lockdown drills are the norm, and they’ve had enough.

In the wake of the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman High School in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead and 14 injured, it’s the student survivors whose voices — angry, exasperated, heartbroken — have emerged as forces of change.

Now, high school students across the country are organizing in solidarity with their peers in Parkland. Frustrated by what they say is the older generations’ failure to keep them safe in their schools, Gen Z are taking matters into their own hands. VICE News spoke to students across the country — from Parkland, to nearby Boca Raton, Florida, to Pittsburgh, to Washington D.C., to the suburbs of Chicago, to Iowa City, Iowa, and to Decatur, Georgia — who are determined to ensure that another mass shooting never happens.
This week, some of the Parkland survivors boarded buses and traveled six hours to Tallahassee to rally on Wednesday outside of the state capitol, where they were joined by local high schoolers.

On the same day, other Parkland students joined survivors of other school shootings for a listening session with President Donald Trump at the White House.

Students are also trying to ensure that renewed anger over the issue doesn’t fade. High schoolers from West Boca Raton, for example, have launched an initiative called “535 Letters for Change,” which entails writing to members of Congress demanding reforms to gun laws. The Women’s March’s “Youth Empower Group” is working with local activists and high schoolers to coordinate a nationwide school walkout on March 14 at 10 a.m. in all time zones. The walkout will last for 17 minutes — one minute for each Parkland victim.

Student survivors from Parkland, meanwhile, from their parents’ living rooms, have organized a march on Washington, D.C., for March 24, called “March for Our Lives.” And another movement, called #NationalStudentWalkout, is being organized and coordinated by a high school student in Connecticut for April 20. They chose that date because it marks 19 years since the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado that left 13 dead — the first school shooting of the modern era.

Some students said they could be reprimanded by their schools for staging walkouts, but they’re willing to face the consequences. VICE News spoke to three seniors in Pittsburgh who all received detention for their protest on Feb. 21. Anyah Jackson, 17, said in a Twitter message that she feels they didn’t do anything wrong.

“I am so proud of what we did yesterday,” Jackson said.

FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Parkland Survivor Samantha Fuentes Said She Was 'Unimpressed' by Trump's Call

FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Parkland Survivor Samantha Fuentes Said She Was 'Unimpressed' by Trump's Call

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