Staff Writer
On March 14, students and teachers across the United States walked out of their classrooms on the one month anniversary of the Parkland Shooting in Florida which left 17 dead. Thousands of students left class, standing outside at 10 a.m. for 17 minutes across all of America. Reasons varied, though the original purpose of the walkout was to protest in support of greater gun control legislation. Schools had varying amounts of participation and even acceptance of the march, though. Some schools had hundreds of students walking out, while others had as few as one. Some students walked for the original purpose of the protest, while others walked out for purposes such as to remember the victims.
School reactions differed on students walking out. Some schools embraced the students’ right to free speech, while others were not so kind. When Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta held a lockdown drill during the walkout, several hundred students instead decided to kneel and bow their heads through the seventeen minutes. When Sayreville High School in New Jersey threatened students with suspension for walking out, roughly twelve students met outside regardless and were met with two-day suspensions. Other students in the school met in the auditorium and were given detention instead. Both punishments were harsher than what is listed in their school’s code of conduct for cutting class. Not even a snow day could stop students in Boston who marched to their state house to be heard and seen.
New Hope-Solebury also participated in the walkout, and during third period several hundred students walked out to the track for not 17, but 27 minutes. The students walked out officially in remembrance of the Parkland shooting victims. Some of our students read off the names and ages of each victim, as well as a short bio that included a few hobbies, interests, and traits. This was finished with a speech by Elliot Luicci during which he drove home the point that the Parkland victims were normal people who deserved to go home as much as any of us.
