Written by Matt Carey
Pottstown, PA —

In addition to Saturday's rally in Reading, and hundreds more nationwide, Pottstown had its own March for Our Lives organized by a freshman student at The Hill School.

Noorie Dhingra, 14, said that rather than focusing on political change, the rally held Saturday in Riverfront Park was focused on the idea of promoting social change, including destigmatizing mental illness and decrying bullying.

"As a community in Pottstown, we're so incredibly diverse and we have so much potential," Dhingra said. "With everything happening nationwide, I knew that all of us could come together and make a huge difference."

Dhingra made contact with community leaders to help organize a rally that about 125 people attended.

In addition to Dhingra, several students from Pottstown High School and The Hill School spoke to the group.

Pottstown junior Emily Hart said she felt it was her obligation to speak in memory of the 17 students killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida last month.

"I know a lot of people are going to say that rallies like this are pointless, but we are being heard," Hart said. "This movement is entirely focused on stepping up, not walking out."

"No child should be able to fall through the cracks, no parent should be anxious to send their child to school in the morning, and no more children should be killed," she added. "We will be the generation that makes that possible."

Hill School senior Maggie Pearson said she began researching statistics about the disproportionate number of guns in the United States, but said she then realized that citing statistics misses the point.

"We're talking about numbers instead of people," Pearson said. "We retweet and we share, and we consider that our moral obligation. It seems like every time we care a little less, and then we wait for the next one.

"This time feels different."

Pottstown Mayor Stephanie Henrick called the students an inspiration and said she was honored to live in a town that produced such students.

"I am proud and in awe of our young people who have not resigned themselves to leave the solutions to other people," Henrick said. "They've shown the courage and initiative and resolve to not only demand change, but to act on their convictions on all of our behalf."

Pottstown School Board member Emanuel Wilkerson, who was elected to the school board in 2015 at age 18 and at the time was the youngest elected official in the state, closed the rally with a fiery speech.

"The future is here and now," said Wilkerson, now 20. "It's no longer that we're going to wait five, 10 years down the road. We need to start now."

Contact Matt Carey: 610-371-5038 or mcarey@readingeagle.com