Local students join gun-control movement
At 12 ‘o’clock sharp, they walked.
At least 300 Upper Arlington High School students streamed out the front doors of the school at lunchtime Wednesday, a week after 17 students and staff members in Parkland, Florida, were shot and killed by a former student, and 15 others were injured.
Grove City High School students also held a protest gathering at noon in their gymnasium in support of the Florida students, with organizers posting videos online of students chanting “Education is our right! It should not cost our lives!”
At Dublin Scioto High School, about 200 students sat outside in silence for 17 minutes and wrote notes of support that will be mailed to survivors of the Florida shooting. Afterward, they gathered in a circle to discuss how they could push for stronger gun control.
“No child should have to go to school and be scared for their life,” said Daviyana Warren, a 15-year-old sophomore. “It hits close to home because it’s happening to us.”
In Upper Arlington, the students could have used a space inside, a refuge from the spitting rain and cold wind, but they decided they wanted to be seen.
“We’ve constantly been told ... that there’s nothing we can do, that we are useless in this situation,” said Upper Arlington freshman Alex Johnson, 15, as she followed her classmates outside. “They have to listen.”
Clare Driscoll, 17, one of the organizers, climbed onto a park bench in the school’s courtyard. Her voice rang out with the names of those killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School: Alyssa Alhadeff, 14; Scott Beigel, 35; Martin Duque Anguiano, 14; Nicholas Dworet, 17; Aaron Feis, 37; Jaime Guttenberg, 14; Chris Hixon, 49; Luke Hoyer, 15; Cara Loughran, 14; Gina Montalto, 14; Joaquin Oliver, 17; Alaina Petty, 14; Meadow Pollack, 18; Helena Ramsay, 17; Alex Schachter, 14; Carmen Schentrup, 16; and Peter Wang, 15.
“It is no longer an option to do nothing,” said Dylan Carlson-Sirvent, 16, another organizer. “We are students, and our lives are in danger.
“Students and teachers now have to wrestle with the daily hypothetical of what they would do if a shooter would come into the school. In a couple of years, if significant and effective change does not come, we will use the power of our vote.”
Ten more minutes went by in the chilly breeze, the only sounds the birds chirping and flags flapping on their poles overhead.
Seventeen minutes after they started, a minute for each victim, the crowd went back inside to class.
Driscoll said afterward that she thinks student activism in the wake of the Florida shootings can be especially effective.
“We’re used to hearing opinions from adults,” she said.
However, the organizers didn’t espouse any particular policy solution. They said they plan to launch a letterwriting campaign to their elected officials.
Upper Arlington Superintendent Paul Imhoff and high school Principal Andrew Theado stood by and observed the demonstration.
“The kids did this,” Imhoff said. “I’m very proud of our kids. ... This is an issue that’s incredibly important to them.”
He said he’s been contacted by enough concerned students, parents and community members that he decided to call a town hall meeting for 7 p.m. Monday in the high school auditorium. The Upper Arlington police and fire chiefs will be there to help Imhoff answer questions about school safety and take suggestions.
“I think we’ve all had enough,” Imhoff said. “I think we all want to put an end to school violence.”
A Twitter account for Student Walkout Against Gun Violence (@studentswalkout), created on Feb. 15, has picked up more than 23,000 followers.
Major marches also are being organized across the country for March 14, March 24 and April 20. The latter is the anniversary of the 1999 Columbine High School school shooting in Colorado, in which 12 students and a teacher were shot and killed by two students.