Local students take part in a nationwide protest against gun violence.

By Mary O’KEEFE and
Charly SHELTON

It has been exactly one month since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and the debate still rages over gun control. Descriptions differ from one report to another on what constitutes a “mass shooting” but the numbers, ranging from the conservative to the extreme, state between seven and 427 mass shootings occurred in 2017, with most figures fitting in somewhere in the mid-300s. That is roughly seven mass shootings per week on average.

In response to the lack of action from Washington, the students of Stoneman Douglas and Empower, the youth branch of the Women’s March, have banded together to unite students across America in a nationwide protest, including a school walkout.

Rosemont Middle School and Crescenta Valley High School students had events on Wednesday. The common thread between the schools? Something has to be done.

“You can’t rely on other people to make the changes for you,” said Lucy Rickey, eighth grader and student organizer of the Rosemont Middle School protest.

“If you want to make a change, you have to do it yourself,” added Roan Thibault, fellow eighth grader and student organizer, almost in tandem with Rickey.

Rosemont’s protest was not a walkout, but rather what they called a “die-in.” From 10 a.m. to 10:17 a.m., approximately 125 students lay on the cold ground of the Spartan Square lunch area of the campus to show that they could die on school grounds if gun control is not brought about.They observed 17 minutes for 17 victims of the Parkland shooting.

“My role is really just mentoring leadership. This is a student-led action,” said Lisa Avery, English teacher at Rosemont. “They have planned this and my role has just been to support them and help them think through all of the logistics.”

The student-led event took place during snack time, with students running the entirety of the event. During the demonstration, four student speakers read the names of the victims of the shooting and a brief description of them.

“I have always been mad whenever these mass shootings happen and this last one at Stoneman Douglas just made me so mad that I decided I had to do something,” Thibault said.

The Columbine High shooting of 1999 was before either Rickey’s or Thibault’s birth, but the more recent wave of mass school shootings, from Virginia Tech in 2007 onward, has shown these students that there is a real problem.

Rickey credits her parents with not shielding her from the painful news reports.

“I think that there is obviously a prominent issue that is happening in America and nothing’s going to change if you just rely on other people to [change] it for you,” she said.

A similar feeling of frustration, anger and empowerment was seen at CVHS on Wednesday morning. Like their middle school counterparts, hundreds of high school students didn’t walk out of their school, but instead poured onto the campus track and field, many holding handmade signs that read, “How Many Deaths Will It Take ’Til We Know Too Many People Have Died?”

The event was planned by senior class VP Zach Johnson and the Associated Student Body including President Joe Suh.

“We are marching in solidarity,” said Johnson of their students’ participation.

He and Suh thanked the CVHS administration and Glendale Unified School District for their support. When they were in the planning stages of the event they went to Principal Dr. Linda Junge and discussed what would work best for their school, a walkout or a walk on campus.

“For CV, we thought it would be better to have time for people to speak and to have a dove release,” he said.

ASB brought in 17 doves and released each one as the names were read of the 17 victims of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. They also felt keeping the event on campus would be best because those students who were really involved with the movement could take part.

Johnson said the student body, as a whole, is not taking a specific stand on the issue, but wants Congress to take action to do something to stop the gun violence.

“Whether that is bumping the age limit to 21 [to buy guns] or banning [assault weapons],” Johnson said.

“It is just part of having a voice in order for that action to be further progressed by Congress,” Suh said. He added that after every mass shooting Congress would say something would be done, but nothing was.

ASB has a history of offering support, whether for those of gun violence, like the victims of the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, or Ally Week, which supports LGBTQ students.

“Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is 3,000 miles away from here but today they are family,” Johnson said during the event. “We stand with them and with students all across the country to say enough is enough.”

Throughout his speech, Johnson continued to remind those in attendance that the students in Florida were in classrooms just like at CVHS.

Divya Parthasarathy, a CVHS senior, brought her personal experience to the event. During winter break in 2017 she was in Memphis, Tennessee visiting family when she was faced with “one of the worst experiences of my life.”

“We were at the mall at a [restaurant] waiting for our table. A man with a gun came in and began shooting. My brother saw [the gun] and yelled at me and my family to get on the ground. I was with one of my best friends. We were holding each other, shaking and crying, fearing for our lives and listening to each gunshot,” she said.

For Parthasarathy and her friend, it was difficult at first to believe it was happening.

“It felt so unreal. It is one thing to read about it on the news and another thing to experience. No student, including myself, should have to go to school with the fear of getting shot. No student or person should have to go through an experience like that. That is why we are here, to stand up and demand change. We are here to honor the lives lost in Parkland, Florida and support those who have gone through that experience. We are here because we will not stop until change is made. This is an issue in America and it needs to be fixed now,” she said.

ASB invited Senator Anthony Portantino and Congressman Adam Schiff to the event. Though neither could attend they both sent representatives. Mary Hovagimian read a statement from Schiff.

“I am proud to see such powerful energy and activism from our nation’s youth in support of gun reform,” Hovagimian read. “From Parkland, Florida to Crescenta Valley in California young people like you are raising their voices and standing up for your right to feel safe at school … Your activism gives me hope for the first time in a long time that we will pass meaningful and sensible gun legislation.”

Johnson ended the event with a message for Congress.

“Congress, you sit there safe behind metal detectors and security guards, knowing very well you would never take a bullet in those chambers and you would never face the risk [we] students face every single day,” he said. “You seem to have no problem mandating that we attend school every day, and you will go to any measure to enforce that, but God forbid you advocate for laws that make us safe in this environment, that we are required to go to, because it violates the Second Amendment. What about our right to life? When do we come first? When will you realize that [Parkland victims] Alaina Petty’s and Jaime Guttenberg’s rights to not have taken a bullet are far more important than Nikolas Cruz’s right to purchase an AR-15?”

  Charly Shelton, Mary Okeefe