On Valentine’s Day, a shooter opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people.
Among them were teachers, faculty members and students. People employed by this high school lost their lives protecting the students, and too many students won’t make it to graduation. I wrote about this a couple weeks ago.
Today on March 14, 2017, it’s exactly a month after the shooting. Students across the nation walked out of class to protest against the gun control laws that are present in our nation today.
Just as every other school did, Lambert High School took part in this movement. This is Lambert’s walkout story.
I was in second period. It was AP World History. I looked over at the clock where I saw the time was 9:47. Three more minutes. As I looked over again, it was 9:50. I looked around. I got up in the middle of the quiz, packed my bookbag, and walked out. I went to the trailers outside one of the hallways and went and stood there. That’s where I saw the huge crowd of people that were already there before me.
Then, I saw that students went up to the sidewalks of the school and started writing names of the victims who passed away.
Then, a student got up on the benches outside and started telling us that this was a time where we needed to be silent and we needed to be silent and respectful.
Then, we started to walk to the front of the school. As we were walking, more students joined the walk to the front of the school.
After this, we went and stood around the front of the school. That’s where once again we read over the names of the people whose lives were lost during the shooting. We stood outside till 10:17. Seventeen minutes of silence for seventeen victims.
This movement shouldn’t stop here. The entire walkout and protest had been put together by teenagers through social media. Teenagers have stopped sitting back and being silent and have started to take action. We are no longer being spoon-fed what is being told to us by the government and authority. We are too young to vote, but we will not let our voice go unheard. We are being the change we want to see.
It is time for people to sit down and listen to what we have to say. Or schools, our one safe zone, are under attack, and it seems like no one wants to listen. We are screaming for help and refuse to be silenced.
