Students Walk Out to Talk Gun Violence
Students speak out to get government’s attention in the rise of gun violence
Students stand together during the walk-out to support each other.
April 10, 2023
“Protect Kids, Not Guns!” and “We Need Policies, Not Your Prayers!” were presented on posters and said out loud during the walk-out that happened Wednesday, March 5 at 12-12:30 p.m. Two students, Clara Walker and MacKenzie Reddick, worked with administrators to make this happen. They based this on the national walk-out organized by the Students Demand Action group.
Approximately 60 students all got up out of their seats in the middle of the seventh hour, wore orange, and brought their posters to the lobby of the building. Once the crowd was mostly there, Walker and Reddick brought them all outside and got into a circle to give speeches and have moments of silence. They believe that it’s the students that are going to make the difference.
“It is terrifying. There was just a school shooting [threat] a little over a week ago at Wright City that caused us to go into lockdown, and only three days later there was a threat at our school,” Reddick said. “It is important for us to protest because I’m concerned that if we don’t then no one will.”
Some students are concerned because they feel that their peers are being desensitized to gun threats and lockdowns, that it is “just another day” for them.
“We had a lockdown the other day, everyone walked out of class and acted as if we didn’t just go on lockdown,” sophomore Faith Vaught said. They noticed that the students here at school were still laughing and talking about their days after we got the announcement of the lockdown, that most students did not seem to be worried. Walker went on to say, “I think it’s so unfair how unsafe we always have to feel.”
Many students are feeling like their age group is alone in this, that the parents and the people in charge don’t want to acknowledge or listen to what they are trying to say. Brandt Cleppe commented on how he feels the situation is going.
“If the adults don’t do it, then it falls to us to have to bring light to the situation and to show the adults what is really happening,” Cleppe said. The students that participated in the walk-out not only did this to raise awareness, but to try and get the government to listen.
“I think things like this [walk-outs] is how we are going to get the government’s attention, that’s how we are going to bridge the gap to work with them once they start actually listening to us,” Walker said.
When these students walked out on April 5, they walked out for a cause they believe in. These students are going out to make a difference, trying to get the government involved and working alongside them to fix these issues.
“It hits harder when it comes from kids,” Walker said. Speaking about why she feels that the students leading and participating in the walk-out is important to the message they are trying to send out. Most of these students would agree with the statement that Cleppe made when he said, “I just find it insane that there’s just nothing that is being done.”
