STEPS FOR CHANGE
Local students take part in nationwide walkout to push for safer schools
BALLSTON SPA & SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » On Wednesday, high school students throughout the country left their classrooms at 10 a.m.
The event, called #Enough! National School Walkout, raised awareness for school safety and marked the one-month anniversary of the shooting that left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
Several hundred students at Saratoga Springs and Ballston Spa high schools joined the movement, honoring the 17 victims with a moment of silence just outside the school building followed by different students speaking about topics such as youth empowerment and gun violence.
At Ballston Spa High School, Dominique Amézquita told participants this is the last straw following dozens of school shootings since Columbine in 1999.
“I think now we aren’t taking no for an answer, and we are demanding change. I wanted to let them know that we are going to keep going,” said Amézquita following the walkout. “This was not the last thing that we’re going to do, because we won’t stop until something changes.”
Both schools had a police presence. Neither allowed visitors on campus from the beginning of the walkout until it ended at 10:17 a.m.
“It was well thought out. We had feedback from students, engaged with ... law enforcement just to make sure it was going to be a
"I think now we aren’t taking no for an answer, and we are demanding change. I wanted to let them know that we are going to keep going. This was not the last thing that we’re going to do, because we won’t stop until something changes." — Dominique Amézquita
safe and orderly event and it went off exactly the way they we would hope for,” said Saratoga Springs City School District Superintendent Michael Patton. “The students were extremely respectful, listened, the speakers were very knowledgeable and passionate about first remembering the victims of Parkland, but also the message that students want our schools to be safe, and that’s something as a school district we fully support.
Brianna Dungate, a senior at Saratoga Springs High School, organized the walkout for her and hundreds of her classmates.
“We wanted to have this event be non-political, so that students, regardless of where they thought legislation should go, could still stand together as one district and one school saying that we don’t want to be afraid going to school, and I think for me that message was the main thing that I hope everybody got from it is that we might not be unified on what we think should happen going forward but we can all say that there needs to be a change that is made, and I think that’s the most important thing, and to remember that there were 17 people senselessly killed, and that is a problem,” said Dungate. “It shouldn’t happen any day in a school where kids are learning and trying to pursue a future.”
The walkouts drew support from companies including media conglomerate Viacom, which paused programming on MTV, BET and all its other networks for 17 minutes during the walkouts.
Other protests planned in coming weeks include the March for Our Lives rally for school safety, which organizers say is expected to draw hundreds of thousands to the nation’s capital on March 24. Another round of school walkouts is planned for April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High shooting in Colorado.
At Ballston Spa Middle School, students didn’t walkout, but students planned and organized a Stay In and Reflect moment to honor the victims of the shooting and also to raise awareness about school safety. The school arranged for classes to take 17 minutes out of the regularly scheduled instruction for this reflection.
“We are proud of our students for the thoughtful and collaborative way they planned these events with a focus on honoring victims and promoting safe schools,” the school district said in a statement. “Their message is one of unity and citizenship, bringing people together rather than focusing on opposing views.”
Madison Amico, a student at Ballston Spa High School, also spoke in front of several hundred classmates. Amico encouraged her classmates.
“I just really want people to feel united in this movement, because we want change,” said Amico. “This is unacceptable for these to continue to happen.”
Amico and a handful of her classmates wore shirts personally made for the walkout. On the back, dates of major shootings in the United States were printed, dating back to 1999.
“I just really want to inspire people to vote, make their voices be heard and just remember these tragedies, grieve these tragedies,” said Amico. “But use the feelings that they have towards this to make positive change in our country.”