Some students at WHHS  are looking to participate in a national student walkout plan to mark the one-month anniversary of the Florida school shooting on Wednesday, March 14, 2018.

Coining the slogan #NEVERAGAIN, Stoneman Douglas High School activists have been sending shock waves through the nation with their unrelenting will to pass gun control measures. Amidst the heated national gun debates and the Republican-controlled Florida legislature passing new gun control laws, the Women’s March is calling for a national school walkout entitled “ENOUGH: National School Walkout.”

Organizers have asked students to wear orange and walk out on Wednesday, March 14th at 10:00AM for 17 minutes; this date is the one-month anniversary of the Florida shooting, and the 17 minutes is meant to commemorate the 17 victims who died that day.

Seniors Sam Marron, Hager Younes, Jennifer Conklin, Sarah Shobut, and Larisa Basmouk registered Wayne Hills as a participant in the walk out on the Women’s March Action Network. Together, they emailed all Wayne Hills faculty members to inform and invite them to the walkout.

“We wanted people to participate without being afraid [of punishment]. We wanted them to know that Wayne Hills is a place where students have the right to be heard,” senior Sarah Shobut who sent the email continues, “We want students to feel safe going to school.”

The seniors claimed that the walkout is a platform for students to demonstrate their advocacy for their “rights of life, liberty, and justice.” Although there are varying opinions within our school on the walkout itself and the possible political nature of the event, the email encouraged teachers to “respect the freedom and right of your students to form their own opinions and advocate and cultivate change.”

Senior Sam Marron said, “Sarah Shobut contacted me saying she would love for me to help spread the word… [and] obviously I couldn’t resist because this is something very important to me,” Marron has been very active in school safety measures after the Florida shooting; she helped organize the heart photo and banner being sent to Stoneman Douglas High School. “Seeing others with the same drive and passion to make a change was really awesome.”

The email ended with a powerful quote from H.L. Richardson, founder of Gun Owners of America: “Never, ever lose sight of the power of one individual American. They can have an unbelievable magnifying affect just by the very fact they make up their mind to do so!”

Principal Michael Rewick responded to the mass invitation by stating that the school would not sanction or encourage the walk-out, but students would be free to voluntarily participate in the event.

“Because we are a place of learning, it is not our role to promote, participate, or lead these events,” Rewick said in an email to staff. “It is expected that on Wednesday that we will be conducting our classes just like normal.”

Teachers have been encouraged to allow students to participate if they so desire.  They must also recognize that those students who do not wish to participate, can remain in class.