Palisade High School met with opposing views, but all students held their heads in silence in honor of the Florida victims, while Grand Junction, Fruita, and Central were more vocal.
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“The shooting in Parkland, while thousands of miles away, is an issue that hits home”.
“These issues won’t change themselves”, said Tasha Reichhardt, a junior at Mountain View High School.
Just before the start of the legislative session got underway, America was stunned and devastated by the loss of seventeen lives at the hands of a deranged gunman in Parkland, Florida. The conversation after mass shootings is always far too temporary, but the grief and the loss these families feel is permanent. How can we allow this to continue? “Today’s walkout is the first step of many”. “We have students that are 15, 16, 17 now, that will have a voice in the 2019 election”.
“San Francisco’s Brown and Black youth witness this gun violence in their lifetimes so many times that we nearly normalize it”, said Cisneros.
“We will take 17 minutes from our day to honor the 17 lives lost in the attack”, said Steve Breedlove, Mena High School Assistant Principal to a large crowd of students participating in the national “Walk-Out” demonstration Wednesday, March 14.
A California student is challenging his school’s double standard on which causes are permissible to protest by calling for a national school walkout against abortion.
Nan Stifter, 17, said she felt the walkout showed what can happen when people set aside differences and come together as one.
Dean of Student Engagement Juan Carlos Astorga estimated that 200 people showed up to support gun reform and the end to gun violence. At the 15-minute mark, senior Leila Marsh stood up with teary eyes to read the names and ages of those 17 victims. Additionally, at the Coronado Unified School Board meeting the following day, each member of the board recounted their experiences from the day offering generally positive comments for the students and staff.
Another mother directly confronted the student organizers after the walkout as they waited for a pizza delivery.
That happened March 14 in the parking lot at Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High School amidst light rain, puddles and heavy reflection for 17 people who died in a Florida school shooting February 14.
Kelly said the students who survived the Parkland shooting and initiated the national walkout inspired her.
Lindsey Lazo, a child development major, said she believes legislators use the mentally ill as an excuse and a crutch for their inaction.
For Doherty, “media exposure is important for raising awareness and creating motion towards change”. It’s not a normal thing. “Most people realize we’re doing this for a good reason – saving kids’ lives”. We can’t say that anymore. “I got up just to do this”. Some say the walkouts are ineffective and only serve to make a physical statement.
The Galion City School District conducted drug dog searches at the Galion High School and Galion Middle School March 22.
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There was a concern that some students would walk out to the parking lot; the staff and students wanted all the students inside for safety reasons.
