Week after the walkout: What we have learned
Thousands participated in the National School Walkout.
March 20, 2018
Last week, the school “walkout” at LHS held in memoriam of the 17 lives lost in Parkland, Fl. gained wide participation among students and sparked schoolwide conversation.
As I walked into the gym for the event, I was shocked by the amount of kids funneling into the room. Such massive attendance at LHS and elsewhere was overwhelming—certainly a symbol of the shifting attitudes across the U.S. and the globe.
“The protests unfolded in major cities across the country—New York, Washington, Chicago, Seattle—and hundreds of smaller towns and communities as well,” said Washington Post reporters Joe Heim, Marissa J. Lang and Susan Svrluga.
However, the question of where the discussion is headed remains open.
There are a multitude of opinions in this debate and it seemed that the walkout, while simply a time for remembrance of those lost in the recent school shooting, allowed students to ponder this issue deeper. For LHS students, the walkout became representative of its larger context. Some LHS students seemed upset at the fact that the assembly wasn’t allowed to be political, others found the entire idea of the walkout to be trivial and still others found it irrevocably necessary.
It’s in the division that we find perhaps the most pertinent topic within the issue of gun control, mental health and the politics of it all: leadership. No matter which side of the aisle (or at what section of the aisle) one stands, it is hard to dispute the fact that those who led this rally and attended it at LHS learned valuable lessons in the power of conveying a message. While they may not have been allowed to speak on politics, the students were granted a position to discuss what it means when we lose innocent lives and how we can continue the conversation moving forward.
As young people, our voices may feel discouraged or silenced. However, through this assembly teens have learned to lead in the school environment by working with the school adminstration.
“Supporters say the walkouts and demonstrations represent a realization of power and influence by young people raised on social media who have come of age in an era of never-ending wars, highly publicized mass shootings and virulent national politics,” said Heim, Lang and Svrluga.
Political or not, the walkout was about spreading awareness and shaping the discussion at LHS to be as productive, positive and powerful as it can be.
For more information on the various walkouts across the country from the Washington Post:
