Student Perspectives On The School Walkouts
Across the United States, students walked out of class at 10:00 A.M. for a minimum of 17 minutes, dedicating each minute to the 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School in Parkland, Florida last month.
Since the Valentine’s Day shooting, student survivors from Stoneman Douglass began a movement, demanding efficient action from Congress to help prevent school shootings and gun violence in America.
The courage and determination of the young survivors inspired nearly a million students across America to walkout of their classrooms in protest on March 14th to remember those who died and to demand change.
While most students staged their walkouts outdoors, some remained indoors, either willingly or by threat from their school’s administration.
Some cities, such as New York City, encouraged students to take part in the walkout, if they felt compelled to. Mayor Bill De Blasio and Governor Cuomo even joined students in their walkouts around the city.
De Blasio told the large crowd of students at Brooklyn’s Edward R. Murrow High School that their leadership was necessary in this fight for change. The leadership De Blasio spoke of was exemplified by not only the students that walked out of their schools or protested inside, but the students who took charge and helped to organize their school’s protest.
“I felt the need to organize the walkout because I knew I could not just sit idly by and allow children just like me to feel terrorized and be murdered,” said Gianna Corvino, a senior at Manhattan’s Loyola School.
“To stand side by side with people I have known for years, remembering that they could be gone in the blink of an eye, was a very profound and humbling experience for me,” she added.
Nina Tompkins, a senior at Special Music School in Manhattan who attended her school’s walkout at Lincoln Center, felt “it was extremely inspiring to know that a large group of youth could represent positive actions. It was good to see a bunch of communities come together for a common cause.”
Cate Whitman of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School had a similar feeling.
With help from the Women’s March Youth Empower, she helped to organize her school’s walkout. This walkout was held in front of Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus with her school and the neighboring schools in attendance.
“It was a beautiful moment to see all these kids and schools working together to create an important moment, and it certainly didn’t go unnoticed,” Whitman said.
“Gun violence is not a fad, or just something for newscasters to pick up on for ratings. It’s something that affects millions of people in this country, and we will continue the fight until our demands are met.”
That fighting spirit was shared across America, especially in the nation’s capital.
Students in D.C. took to the National Mall to protest in front of The White House and the Capitol Building.
In addition to being the site of some of the most important marches in American history, Washington, D.C. is also the host city of the upcoming March For Our Lives on March 24th.
Ian Berlin, a student at Maret School in D.C. who brought 20 of his classmates to the National Mall said, “Unlike many adults who are able to vote and/or throw large amounts of money into political campaigns, we as students don’t have that power. This is the only way that we’re able to make our voices heard and show congress that we want change and we want it now.”
He added, “We as students are the leaders of tomorrow, but we are today’s enactors of change. We must register to vote and we must do everything we can to create change. Then and only then, lead by the young people of this country, will we finally see an end to countless lives ended far too soon.”
Although nearly a million students took part in the walkouts, not everyone felt that they were a good as they could’ve been.
“I was really impressed and moved by the silence. After that, the speaking aspect lost me a little bit because I feel like there was a egoic motivation to talk instead of an actual interest in the cause,” said Kabir Ahduya-Kumar, a senior at Special Music School who attended the Lincoln Center walkout.
Autumn Owens, who runs a blog called ImaniTheBlog and is also student at Special Music School, thought “It was good, but once it got vocal, I felt like some people were looking for media attention.”
Owens also shared how she noticed that “some people used this as an excuse to get out of class,” a reoccurring sentiment shared by student protesters who are noticing the lack of genuine interest in some of their peers.
“I think people really need to ask themselves, ‘Do you really want to be here because you want to see change, or do you just want to be here just to be here?’”
Originally published on former WordPress blog on March 15, 2018
Edited on July 1, 2020
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