Student march gaining steam
Young organizers put finishing touches on anti-guns protest
“… We’ve had enough. We don’t want to be scared at school anymore. We want to take action.” Paige Cromley, co-leader
In between her math homework and track practice, high school sophomore Paige Cromley has been busy planning what could be one of the largest student-led protests in Texas history.
As one of the lead coordinators behind Houston’s March For Our Lives, an anti-gun-violence protest scheduled for March 24 at downtown’s Tranquility Park, Cromley has been managing students from more than 60 schools, navigating the tangled world of permitting and arranging for police presence.
It’s a new role for Cromley, a student at The John Cooper School in The Woodlands, whose only prior organizing experience involved starting a gender equity club at her campus.
“It’s hard to organize so many people in such a short amount of time, and in school they don’t teach you things like this,” Cromley said. “I think the high school kids have decided we’ve had enough. We don’t want to be scared at school anymore. We want to take action.”
The Houston-area students behind March For Our Lives are putting the finishing touches on an event that could attract hundreds of people in response to last month’s school shooting rampage that left 17 students and staffers dead in Parkland, Fla. Local organizers are joining students from across the globe who are taking the lead on March For Our Lives, a grassroots network of nearly 750 protests planned for March 24. The march advocates for more restrictive gun
laws that could reduce gun violence, including attacks on school campuses, after years of political gridlock on the issue.
Dozens of local students have been mapping out the event for the past four weeks, communicating through social media channels and a network of seven committees. Passionate activists
Cromley and another lead organizer, Katy ISD student Steven Garza, both described filtering through dozens of emails and hundreds of instant messages each day — all with the goal of uniting student planners from about 60 campuses.
Organizers can’t predict how many people will attend, but they’re planning for at least a few thousand, with the potential to reach tens of thousands.
“Everyone is so passionate, and we think we’re really on the verge of something that’s never been seen in Houston,” said Garza, a junior at Mayde Creek High School. “We think it’s something very special that we’ve tapped into, and we don’t want to squander that.”
True to March For Our Lives’ grassroots start, the Houston event began as it did in many places: with a Facebook post.
A few days after the Parkland shooting, sixthgrade teacher Alyssa DuPree started seeing colleagues posting on Facebook about the massacre and gun violence. When DuPree saw a video announcing March For Our Lives, she made a Facebook event for a Houston gathering, setting it for City Hall.
“I just decided that if I had to do it myself, I would,” said DuPree, who spoke on the condition that the Houston Chronicle withhold her place of employment. “I honestly had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I also sort of had the expectation that somebody else was going to come along and do one, and my event would merge with theirs.”
One day later, Cromley reached out via Facebook, offering to help. DuPree suggested students take over planning the protest, and when she pinned a message on the Facebook event page, several high school students responded. ‘Untainted’ ambition
“It’s cool to see how untainted their ambition is. They’re not jaded yet,” DuPree said. “They have a lot more empathy, and social media has really empowered kids. They’re not so isolated, which I think is something really powerful about the generation coming up.”
Early organizers started connecting with students at schools across Houston, representing a wide swath of the region: massive high schools in Cypress-Fairbanks and Katy ISDs; smaller private schools in Spring Branch and Houston; neighborhood schools from Conroe to Sugar Land; and several colleges and universities.
When the network became too unwieldy, lead organizers began forming committees to carry out specific tasks. One group tackled public relations, another focused on social media, another on graphic design. The committee heads have met twice as a group, charting their message to volunteers and participants.
“It’s actually gone perfectly well,” said Cameron Waller, a Texas A&M University at Galveston freshman who has recruited march participants at her college. “I hope people are shocked to see how wellorganized and thoughtout everything is.”
Organizers have run into a few roadblocks, some of which required adult intervention. Permitting for Tranquility Park has been a struggle, prompting students to enlist pro bono help from a local lawyer. Safety is a top priority, which requires coordination with city police. A large event comes with costs — security, parking, sound equipment, advertising — so students started a GoFundMe.com page that has raised about $13,600.
But at its heart, the event remains studentdriven. Garza said he hopes the march inspires students and young adults to get more involved in politics, to vote in elections and run for office. Voter registration groups will be on hand, and organizers are eyeing continued involvement in local political races.
“We believe it’s our turn now. It’s time to take charge,” Garza said. “Whether we have 1,000 people or 40,000 people, we know that we’ve started something special.”