Alyssa
She wore #8 on the soccer field. She noticed that when you rotate the number 90 degrees, it becomes the infinity symbol — and she loved that. It felt like her.
Alyssa Alhadeff was 14 years old, bright and unstoppable. An honor student. A winning debater. The captain of her traveling soccer team — a fierce attacking midfielder who also loved clothes, sparkly things, dancing, and beach days on Long Beach Island. She stayed up too late helping friends through hard moments. She was the best big sister her two younger brothers could have asked for. She was the kind of girl every parent hopes their child grows up to be.
On Valentine’s Day 2018, Alyssa was killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. She was one of 17 people murdered that day. She was 14 years old.
She should still be here.
What Lori and Ilan did next
Grief can bury you or it can move you. Lori and Dr. Ilan Alhadeff chose to move.
In the weeks after Parkland, while the country debated and politicians offered thoughts and prayers, Lori and Ilan were asking a different question: what would actually make schools safer? Not eventually. Now. For every child, in every school, in every state.
The answer they kept coming back to was time. In an active shooter situation, the gap between the first shot and the arrival of law enforcement is the gap between life and death. A silent panic alarm — one that alerts police directly and instantly, without requiring a teacher to find a phone, dial a number, and describe a situation while hiding under a desk — can close that gap. It was a simple, proven, achievable idea. And no state required it.
So they decided to change that.
Alyssa’s Law
In 2019, just over a year after Parkland, New Jersey became the first state in the nation to pass Alyssa’s Law — requiring silent panic alarms connected directly to law enforcement in every school. Florida followed in 2020. Then Texas. Then New York. Then Tennessee, Utah, Oklahoma, Georgia, Washington, Oregon, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Twelve states. Millions of students now in schools with a faster path to help in the worst moment imaginable.
The fight isn’t over. Alyssa’s Act — federal legislation that would bring standards for emergency response to every school in America — has been introduced in Congress. MOSS is fighting to pass it.
The movement
Alongside the legislative work, MOSS has funded over $1 million in direct school safety projects — security infrastructure, Stop the Bleed kits, AED equipment, security film, fencing, radios, and safety training at schools across the country. Every dollar is documented and publicly listed.
MOSS Clubs now operate in 35+ schools nationwide — student-led, teacher-supported groups that build a culture of safety from the inside out. Mini MOSS Clubs bring the same mission to elementary schools.
None of this brings Alyssa back. But every school made safer, every law passed, every student trained carries her name forward.
The symbol
The infinity symbol in the MOSS logo is Alyssa’s. Her number, rotated. A reminder that the work doesn’t end — and neither does she.
Her favorite color was aqua — traditionally a color of protection. It’s in the logo too.
In loving memory of Alyssa Alhadeff · #8 · Parkland, 2018
