Students gather for school wide walkout in wake of Parkland tragedy

(article by Emma Preston and Giulia Trevellin) Student organizers’ goals were put into action when thousands of Samo students attended the national walkout on Mar. 14, on the football field.  The purpose of the walkout was to honor the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and peacefully advocate for changes to gun laws in the United States in unity with other students across the U.S. The walkout took place at schools throughout the entire country and was held for 17 minutes to commemorate the 17 victims of the shooting.  The walkout unofficially began at approximately 9:50 a.m., when many Samo students and staff left their classes. Those who participated marched to the football field, where there was a small stage and speaker system set up for the walkout leaders. By 10 a.m., when the event officially began, the football field was covered in a sea of Samo students holding up signs and posters. Roger Gawne (’21), a student organizer, began rallying the crowd with chants. As he shouted phrases such as “Enough is Enough!” and “Never Again,” cheers erupted from the crowd. At around 10:10 a.m., students spoke about each Parkland shooting victim while posters made by ASB with the names and pictures of each were shown to the crowd.  Overall, the walkout proceeded as planned. Students gathered in a crowd at a respectful distance from the stage and most students participated supportively. However, there was a slight disturbance when many of the organizers were pushed off the small stage while another student from the crowd forced his way up, grabbed the microphone and shouted briefly about the Second Amendment. After the group jostled to regained control of the microphone, the student was escorted off of the stage by a teacher. The demonstration resumed. The planning for the walkout started shortly after the Parkland shooting, when a crowded and  impromptu meeting at lunch on Feb. 16 in the College Center evolved into Samohi for Change, a coalition of clubs such as La Sociedad and Human Rights Watch and other interested students, named for the Parkland shooting survivor Emma Gonzales’s twitter handle, @Emma4Change. A second meeting in Spanish teacher Claudia Bautista-Nicholas’s room on Thursday, Feb. 27 organized the group of approximately 60 students into smaller subcommittees to plan aspects of the walkout. Multiple students, such as Aidan Blain (’20), took on leadership roles in the executive group to contribute and ensure that the walkout was as effective as possible. “I decided to help lead and organize the walkout because this is an issue I feel very passionate about. Our world is changing and it seems that time and time again it’s the kids who are acting like the adults and stepping up to face the important issues. We need to step up, and students and teachers across the nation will show that we care,” Blain said. The organizers were intent on showing solidarity with the students of Parkland and calling for stricter laws regulating guns. The signs honoring the victims and the protest signs were created by a group of students on the Friday afternoon before the event. Bautista-Nicholas and several other teachers offered their classrooms for meetings and helped to guide students during the planning, including offering ideas for calling students to the rally and contacting local and national media. “The intention was for the kids themselves to express the fear of the possibility of having a shooting on campus. They have a much more personal connection to that. It really has made them into activists, and I think that’s great,” Bautista said. “I remember seeing a sea of kids coming to the field and realizing how emotional and happy they were to support the walkout. So, I think for them it was a powerful moment.”                                                                                           Samohi4Change has already started planning additional walkouts and continues voter pre-registration for Samo students who are 16, spearheaded by Enni Leppanen (’18) and Delena Tiku (’18). “It's important for the students, and even the staff, to walk out because this affects every single person on this campus. This isn't one of those events that we can just pity from afar and hope that it's fixed, because it won't be. Our voices are beyond powerful, but we don't acknowledge that. We are the generation that has noticed all the injustices done against us and we are the generation that can create change. If we unite and show our stance and what we want to change, we can possibly achieve anything we set our minds to,”  Samohi4Change executive committee member Chelsea Moran (’19) said.