ATLANTA—More than 50 students from Georgia Tech and Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in the 2013 national March for Life on Jan. 25.

The students piled into a charter bus, alongside Georgia Tech Catholic chaplain Father Kevin Peek, to travel to Washington for the march and other pro-life activities there, including meeting other college students involved in the movement. Forty-five students from Georgia Tech and nine from GCSU made the trip.

Georgia Tech Students for Life gather in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Jan. 25. A busload of students from Tech and Georgia College and State University, Milledgeville, went to the national March for Life to show support for the protection of human life beginning at conception. (Photo courtesy of Georgia Tech Students for Life)

“Sometimes, especially on a college campus like Tech, it is easy to become discouraged by the culture of death,” wrote Emily Davidson, community relations’ chair for Students for Life at Georgia Tech, by email.

“The March for Life gives our group hope that we truly are the pro-life generation. It is so amazing to see the hundreds of thousands of young people who traveled so far to stand up for the rights of the most vulnerable,” she wrote. “Even though the march commemorates a solemn occasion, the people are full of so much joy and so much hope in the Lord. It is a beautiful thing to be a part of. The march helps give us the passion we need to continue to promote a culture of life on the Tech campus.”

Their marathon trip began Thursday evening, Jan. 24, when the bus left Atlanta. The group planned to arrive for Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Friday morning before participating in the march. They were to leave Washington on Friday night and return home Saturday morning Jan. 26.

The number of students who made the trip is more than double last year’s number, said Davidson. They started planning in October, so they had enough time to raise funds and invite students from other schools.

“We knew we had to start fundraising early on in order to raise enough money to make the trip possible,” Davidson said. “By God’s grace and the overwhelming generosity of our supporters, this year we have more than doubled our attendance and opened up the trip to other schools.”

Davidson, 20, who is studying science, technology and culture, said the pro-life movement was always important to her, but she became more involved when she joined the Tech Students for Life group.

“As a freshman, I really looked up to the older members of Students for Life who were so passionate about the issue,” she said. “It has been amazing to see our group grow over the past three years.”

A campus pro-life group is likely a lone voice, she said, and the way members carry themselves is important.

“Groups like ours are so important on college campuses; we have the responsibility of being a voice for society’s most vulnerable in a place where they otherwise wouldn’t be heard. We have the ability to promote a culture of life, not only through the pro-life events we have but by the example of the way we live our lives,” Davidson wrote.

Another member of Students for Life, Amanda Figeredo, 19, wrote that it is important to get the conversation started among those in the younger generation. The Georgia Tech sophomore, who is studying economics and international affairs, serves as the fundraising chair for Students for Life.

“A friend said to me today, ‘Wow, you went to the march at the state Capitol and you’re going to march in D.C.?’ She was impressed by my passion for the cause. And so was the classmate I mentioned it to and the girl who works at the coffee shop,” she wrote by email.

“They were also shocked to hear, for the first time, that a third of our generation is missing. As important as going to the March for Life is, a lot of the people in our sphere of influence will never know that it is even happening, unless we start the conversation,” she added. “Defending life isn’t just something we do one day in the year. It is, and must be, a deliberate act in our daily lives.”