This Florida Teen Is Throwing A Dream Concert To Benefit Parkland Victims' Families

A week right after a horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida killed 17 people — among them students, a teacher, a coach, and an administrator — survivors and supporters rallied outdoor the state capitol in Tallahassee to push for gun reform. One of those was 18-year-old senior Emilie Smith, who attends nearby North Broward Preparatory School and knew some of the victims.


After talking with some local Broward County companions, Smith determined they could all help their community in another way, by raising funds to put on a benefit concert for the victims' families — reminiscent of Ariana Grande's One Love Manchester and A Concert for Charlottesville in 2017.


Emilie Smith


So far, the GoFundMe page Smith and companions created hasn't although reached its stated $100,000 objective, although in just four days, it's already gotten some high-profile and unexpected responses on social media from Fifth Harmony's Lauren Jauregui, Paramore's Hayley Williams, and more.


Between homework and the other rigors of being a high-school student, Smith told MTV News she's working hard to get the show's logistics settled. Below, in her own words, she reveals how she's doing it, what's inspiring her, and how it matters.

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I'm really into music. I like to sing. I play the piano and guitar. So my whole life, I've really relied on music to find stability and healing, and that's been an enormous segment of my life. So I thought about it. I mentioned, well, why don't we have a concert for this community? Why don't we use music the way it's helped me?


And my friend Sebastian, he's an alumni from Douglas. He texted me the same day I thought about it, saying, "We should have a benefit concert." And I was completely on board. I thought it was a good idea, so we got things moving pretty fast. I mean, we've only been at this for four days, so yeah, really just the healing qualities of music. The community could really use that now, so I thought it'd be a fantastic idea.


Smith meeting Camila Cabello, an artist on her wishlist for the benefit concert.


One of [Sebastian's] close companions Alyssa Alhadeff passed away in the shooting. I have a ton of companions who were really close with Joaquin [Oliver], we call him Guac. I have some companions who knew Jaime Guttenberg through dance. They were really close, and it's hard to watch these people so mad and hard to watch your community sort of crumble. It's very sad, yet we have to turn it into something productive.


[The Tallahassee march on February 21] was exceedingly eye-opening. I noticed out about it the night before we left, and we left at 8 a.M. On a bus, so it was already 11 p.M. Any time Once I noticed out about it. I packed in five minutes, went to bed, and got on the bus with my friend Natalie. And we really didn't know what to expect as soon as we got there. There's so much support. There were high schoolers there welcoming us, saying, "We're here for you." The vigil had hundreds of people at it. It's so different than sitting at residence talking to your companions, any time whenever you travel somewhere else so you actually visualize all of those people supporting you. They already know all about your community, about you and how you're there, and they're supporting you, and it's incredible.


But the particular part where we discussed to legislators was a little bit frustrating at first because there really are so several that are against gun control. They're against gun legislation, plus several of those actually didn't wanna converse with us at all. They mentioned they had a meeting and were like, "We can't talk." That was frustrating, although then again, there were legislators that were very helpful and had a lot of good ideas that we agreed with for gun control.


Nevertheless the legislators we did not agree with, they sort of went off about, "Oh yeah, we can do stuff about mental health. We can have better background checks," and so they said arming teachers, and I am very against that because for one, there really are a lot of things that go into that. As an example, teachers aren't trained to carry firearms. As well as, I myself and my companions would feel more uncomfortable going to school knowing that our teachers had guns.


That was discouraging once we voiced our suggestions and so they basically mentioned, "No, you're wrong." We're still gonna keep going. We're not gonna stop pushing for the change that we need, pushing for gun control.


There was the rally on the last day that was absolutely incredible. The county actually canceled school in the complete county for all of the students to come to the rally. I think there was over 3,000 people that came and most of these were students. I have chills talking about it right now.


Looking out and seeing all these people, the kids just crying and staring at us, and so they had signs, also it was so powerful. Listening to my companions give their speeches — they're so brave, and I'm so delighted of each and every person here who's doing something about this. It was an impressive experience.


I actually got the idea [for the benefit concert] If I was there. I was talking to my friend Natalie, also it was sort of just a "what if" at that point: "What if there was a benefit concert?" I just sort of let it go. I was thinking about it for a day or so, and then I got back, and my friend Sebastian said it, and I mentioned I would absolutely love that. I was thinking about that two days prior. That's how it started.


I didn't expect this big of a reaction. Hayley from Paramore literally direct-messaged me on Twitter and I screamed so loud. I mean, I love her. My companions and I love her. We're so excited. I've gotten so several emails from my main go to bands that I listen to daily, like in the vehicle on my way to school and on the way back. It's totally surreal, and I didn't expect this at all. Although I mean, it's astonishing. It's incredible. I do not even have words for how fast this has exploded and why several people wanna help us. I mean, we have people donating cash, allocating their tools, providing their services, their suggestions. It's... I do not even know. It's amazing.


Of course it's a challenge just because I'm still in high school. I've never really had professional experience with concert planning or PR or any of this stuff, the financial characteristic. However I'm learning very rapidly. And I'm working very, very hard day-to-day. I'm talking to people all across the nation for suggestions. I'm talking about venues. We're attempting to find a date. Things are moving really quickly.


It's certainly a lot, it's certainly overwhelming, yet I can performer name it, and I'm very excited. I've got some excellent companions who are doing just as much as I am. They're working very hard as well, so, I mean, we're gonna get it done and it's gonna be amazing.


Smith meeting The Aces, one of the bands on her concert wishlist.


There's a ton of stuff beyond it, and I've learned so much. Even just the trip to Tallahassee, my communication skills and talking to people, I feel like I've matured like 10 years. And in all of this planning and the specifics beyond it, the financial planning, every aspect to travel, hospitality, what business are we gonna give this cash to to give to the families, PR, who's gonna host it — so much stuff. It's a lot, yet I mean, I think it's benefiting me. It's making me smarter and more able to nickname situations and conflicts. It's certainly not a bad thing.


I think the thing I wanna stress the most is that this is naturally for the families of Parkland, although this show is also going to promote gun control. We're gonna put in characteristic of this show, I don't know if I should mention what they are, yet the show is going to have something to do with pushing for gun control and gun legislation and for voting. Additionally to healing the families of Parkland and the students, there's going to be the activism side to the show as well.