Girl On Fire

Isabella Dodro Wanted More From The March For Our Lives Event Than A Simple Statement    

Her name is Isabella Sojourner Dodro. She is convinced that something must be done to end mass shooting gun violence in America and she is willing to do it.  She is 14.

PHOTO: JORDAN WOODS

“We were watching [the Parkland shooting tragedy] on the t.v. as a family and I remember being really appalled by what’s happening,” she recalled seeing dozens of teens running out of their school on Feb. 14.

“It really hit home that the shooting happened at a high school and I’m an 8th grader going into a high school next year. I don’t want to be next,” she said when asked why she joined the March for Our Lives on March 24.

Dodro, like many thousands of other young people across the country, believe that mass shootings are now so frequent that they are forced to push for a change that adults have not seemed able to deliver.

A resident of New Carrollton, Miss Dodro has been active on the issue before the march. As an elected student leader at her school, she helped to organize and lead a walk out on March 14 as a ramp up to the march.

PHOTO: JORDAN WOODS

“Two weeks before the scheduled walkout – student government presidents of my school and I met with classmates and talked about doing something for this,” says Isabella who is co-president of the Student Government Associaiton.  “We had really strong feelings about this. I met with the adult supervisor. He said ‘you can really lead something’ and I said OK, I will.”   After a meeting with the principal and the head of middle school for 45 minutes we compromised on the terms of the walk out. My friends and I were texting about the details and on March 14 we led the walkout.”

“She put together nearly 100 of those ribbons for the students to wear for the walkout,” says Isabella’s mother, Katrina Dodro. Katrina is herself a community leader and activist. It’s no surprise that her daughter, named for the legendary women and human rights activist Sojourner Truth (whose birth name was also Isabella), was determined to participate in the full March For Our Lives effort in Washington, D.C.

The walkout was more than a success. It was an emotional, pivotal moment for Dodro, her classmates and the teachers at her school. Although the walkout lasted only 17 minutes, the impact carried beyond the moment and deeper that the gesture itself. “Students continued to wear the ribbons the entire week. We marched out at 10 a.m. It was freezing cold and we were shivering but it was worth it. It made an impact on teachers and students who were crying. It was very, very emotional,” she says.

For days after the walkout, teachers, students and family showered Dodro and her fellow leaders with gratitude and support. “We wanted to have a respectful place for people to mourn over the deaths. It wasn’t really a protest but more of a kind of memorial. We accomplished that. Right afterwards a lot of students were kind of silent. Teachers came up and congratulated me and were glad that we did it. They said that it would not have happened if it were not for you.”            

“I knew even before the walkout I needed to participate in the March in Washington,” Isabella explains. “Mom was afraid of letting me go. We know how controversial the topic is for some and the march might not have been the safest place to be. But after seeing what I had done with the walkout, I convinced her that I was going to stand up for what I believed in. She knew that I was very serious about this.”

Dodro connected with the morning of the March For Our Lives friends and traveled to the District to join the global effort.

What she saw there was astonishing to her.

“It was mind blowing because there were people from every part of the country. It was just emotional and really big and overwhelming. It was way bigger than I had imagined,” Dodro says. “It was really nice to see that so many people believed what I believed and seeing them actually in person and not just saying not online but actually showing up.”

When asked what she gained from the march, the young activist replied: “everyone was watching and we definitely changed some people for the better. As soon as I’m eligible to vote I will be voting. I have been ready forever so I definitely will. I really hope the president heard us because we are going to keep marching and demanding change and voting.”