GEOFF BENNETT: Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and teens in the U.S., but much of the news coverage about it is made by and for adults.

That's why our journalism training team, Student Reporting Labs, handed cameras to 14 student journalists from across the nation to make stories about what it's like to grow up in this generation.

Their work is part of a new documentary called "Run, Hide, Fight: Growing Up Under the Gun."

In this excerpt, student journalists Alexis and Brianna Schmidt talk to their classmates at Michigan State University about what it's like to live through a mass shooting.

MAYA MANUEL, Student Activist: Keep your hands up if you have experienced a lockdown drill before the age of 18, the age of 12, and the age of 6.

Before you learn ABC, you learn how to run, hide, and fight, and that's where we have failed.

NARRATOR: Gun violence has become tragically familiar to people like Maya Manuel, a student at Michigan State University.

On February 13, 2023, three students lost their lives to a gunman.

During the shooting, students received text messages from the university, instructing them to run, hide, and fight.

GEOFF BENNETT: Inside an academic building and then later at a student union.

ALEXIS SCHMIDT, Student Reporting Labs Correspondent: I'm Alexis Schmidt.

BRIANNA SCHMIDT, Student Reporting Labs Correspondent: And I'm Brianna Schmidt.

NARRATOR: We're twins and student journalists who started attending Michigan State a few months after the shooting.

We wanted to talk to other students about with gun violence.

BRIANNA SCHMIDT: How do you think that MSU students' perception of safety on campus changed?

MAYA MANUEL: You're trying so hard to get your degree.

Trying to go back into classes was so difficult.

Every student, every janitor, I had to figure out a new way of thinking, because it was no longer, I'm listening to your experience.

It's, I am understanding your experience.

NARRATOR: For other students like Kylie Ossege, this was not their first experience with the trauma of a mass shooting.

She was a senior at Oxford High School in 2021 when a gunman opened fire inside the school.

Four students died that day and seven others were injured, including Kylie.

She spent two months in the hospital and physical therapy recovering from her injuries.

She had to learn how to do a lot of basic things again, such as walking and brushing her hair.

KYLIE OSSEGE, School Shooting Survivor: I came to Michigan State and I was so scared.

Living with PTSD like that is hard.

I would always tell myself, like, this is never going to happen to you again.

The fact that it happened to you once is crazy.

It's never going to happen to you again.

Just relax.

And then it happens to me again.

People have to wake up and realize that this has happened to everyone if there's no change.

I live in an all-boys hallway.

Boys are very loud and they love to slam their doors.

Any time that happens, it definitely like alarms me, and I have to calm myself down again and tell myself it's just boys.

NARRATOR: For Maya, the shooting has pushed her to become an activist.

MAYA MANUEL: I hate that we have to beg for safety, but I love that we can come together.

We can treat each other with empathy.

I want us to take that pain and I want us to push that into other change.

NARRATOR: Despite her own pain, Kylie hasn't given up hope for a safer future.

KYLIE OSSEGE: There's positive things that can come from every story, because there's so many negatives of the situation that I think if you're able to show some strength, I think a lot of people can bounce off you.

It's important to kind of radiate that positivity around you.

ALEXIS SCHMIDT: For the PBS News Student Reporting Labs, I'm Alexis Schmidt.

BRIANNA SCHMIDT: And I'm Brianna Schmidt in East Lansing, Michigan.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Student Reporting Labs documentary "Run, Hide, Fight" is available to watch now on our YouTube page and on the PBS app.