Exactly one month after the Parkland school shooting, Watkins Mill High School will be participating in the National School Walkout day tomorrow, March 14.
At 10 am, Watkins Mill students will meet at the flagpoles in front of the building, where students will have a moment of silence for the victims of the Parkland school shooting.
“All students should have an opportunity to have a voice on what they think is important,” senior Catherine Hodge said. “So I think that organizing [the walkout] has given a lot of students the opportunity to participate in something that they care about.”
Hodge was motivated to organize Watkins Mill’s protest after listening to and meeting Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School survivors at Blair High School. When she realized that Watkins Mill did not seem that actively involved, she felt responsible to plan something, Hodge added.
Hodge created a sign-up list and flyers to inform students about the walkout. “My friend and I made a promise to one of the Marjory Stoneman kids,” Hodge said. “ [We said,] ‘we are going to do something in our school…seeing you guys here, seeing these other schools here getting to talk to you all. We’re going to do something.’”
“I hope the kids [participate] because they believe in it, not just to get out of class,” principal Carol Goddard said. Goddard instructed teachers not to stop students from walking out, but not to encourage the protest either.
Other than the moment of silence in honor of the lives lost, informational pamphlets will be given out, providing students with other ways to help. These pamphlets will include how to register and contact congressmen and senators.
Since the Parkland school shooting, there have been four additional deaths due to gun violence: a 17-year-old girl in Alabama and three women from California. Because of that, the walkout has “grown to include all the victims of gun violence,” Hodge said.
While students are not facing any consequences if they do choose to participate, students “should know that they are not allowed to leave campus,” Goddard added. “I can protect them if they stay on campus [and] also excuse them if they stay on campus.” If students do leave campus, it will be an unexcused absence.
The walkout is not only to honor victims of gun violence but also “to demand reform in congress about purchasing guns,…[ending] mass shootings,…school shootings, and gun violence,” Hodge said.
