Students participate in nationwide walkouts

In observance of the one month anniversary of the massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students across the nation walked out of their regularly scheduled classes this morning in remembrance of the victims and to voice their beliefs on the need for stricter gun control across the United States.

At 10:00 a.m., a group of Hastings Senior High students walked out of their classrooms, exited the building through the main doors, and marched around campus, chanting “gun control now.”

“Daisy counted and it was something like 45 to 50 students marching with us,” senior Haley Mazour said.

The march lasted for 17 minutes, one minute for each of the 17 victims from Parkland. During the march, Mazour and senior Daisy Mohler gave speeches and words of encouragement to the crowd.

“They cannot suspend us, we have a first amendment right, the right to assemble. And because of that we are using our first amendment rights to bring attention to gun reforms that are needed in our schools,” Mohler said.

The marchers erupted with cheer for Mohler’s speech.

“We need to let our government know that we are not gonna sit around and be target practice for terrorists living in this country. Enough is enough,” Mazour said.

The crowd then marched towards the social studies wing doors to meet up with another group of marchers.The goal of the march was to address the need to feel safe in schools.

“I should not feel unsafe when I walk through the doors of the high school. Gun reform is needed. Not only that, but also adequate funding for mental health facilities, also universal background checks, the assault rifle ban needs to be put back into place. Especially because we’re in such a crucial time in our lives where anyone can get a gun essentially and when we’re going to school everyday not feeling safe that adversely affects our education in every aspect,” Mohler said.

Mazour feels that our government is not doing enough to prevent school shootings.

“I’m tired of seeing almost nearly everyday somebody new dying from some sort of gun violence. Just enough is enough,” Mazour said, “how many people need to die for our government to finally do something about this?”

Mazour was initially hesitant about the march, but after seeing other schools march in the media she the fear subsided.

“I saw all the kids on the news this morning and we saw an article about New York and I knew we couldn’t miss this opportunity to make our voices heard,” Mazour said. “We’ve been sitting around for 19 years now and it is time that we do something and that the government sees we’re not gonna take it anymore.”

Students who participated in the walk out will be counted unexcused for the 85-minute class period. Typically, when a student is unexcused they have to get it cleared within two days or serve detention. Mohler said she will be serving the detention.

“I told my teacher I was gonna march and he was like  ‘okay I don’t care if you do that but I’m just gonna count you guys unexcused because we have to,’” one marcher said.

One student was a little worried about walking out, but walking out alongside other students helped ease her nerves.

Mazour and Mohler concluded the demonstration by announcing another march on March 24 starting at 14th and Burlington at noon. A candlelight vigil will be held afterwards at Highland Park.

Mohler is not at all worried about the repercussions of the march.

“There are bigger fights than my personal agenda,” Mohler said. “I will take any repercussion for people to feel safe when they go to school everyday.”