Walkout?

Six students sat in front of the PAC, either looking at their phones or talking to one another as they walked out Friday morning in remembrance of the lives lost in at Columbine High School, which took place 18 years ago to the day. “Like many people have said, enough is enough. We shouldn’t come to school every day feeling like our [lives are] at risk,” said sophomore Ruby Cruz.

Compared to last month’s walkout in memory of the victims of the Parkland shooting, this turnout was much smaller. There was little to no organization by students compared to the Parkland walkout, save for a minute of silence held during homeroom. However, according to Cruz, “if [someone] had organized something bigger, people would have showed up.”

Cruz also cited a lack of knowledge about the walkout, as well as a fear of consequences for students involved as reasons for the low turnout: “I knew about it, but I don’t think a lot of people knew about it,” she said, and “it’s just the fear of what the consequences might be if they do it.”

As reported by news outlets such as NBC, other schools across the nation experienced large departures from class, in which students left at 10 am, and didn’t return for the remainder of the day. However, at SDA, the administration was not in support of this, another possible reason for a low turnout. “I went to ask the assistant principal and she said that if you left the school for the whole entire day you would get marked absent,” Cruz said.

Despite this, the few students attending the walkout were only slightly deterred. Cruz made this clear when she said “like many people have said, enough is enough… I feel like we as teenagers, we are the new generation that’s going change everything.”