Students Participate in Protest for Safer School Environment
National school walkouts create awareness surrounding gun violence in light of recent mass shootings across the country.
By Ariella Just Milender and Jocelyn Cosgrove
National school walkouts create awareness surrounding gun violence in light of recent mass shootings across the country.
By Ariella Just Milender and Jocelyn Cosgrove
On April 5, in light of recent gun violence events in schools and workplaces, Pioneer students participated in the national school walkout organized by “Students Demand Action.” The walkout, planned for 12 p.m. nationwide, called for action against gun violence in the United States as mass shootings continue to occur throughout the nation.
As of April 17, there have been 163 mass shootings nationwide, more than 30 shootings since the beginning of April. In 2022, there were more than 647 mass shootings and in 2021, more than 690 shootings were reported in the United States according to the Gun Violence Archive. For Pioneer’s walkout, students came out to protest gun violence but there were also students protesting to protect the Second Amendment. Some people, however, used the protest as an excuse to get out of class early.
Despite the mixed crowd of people in attendance, Mario Valdez, 10, decided to walk out and protest as the issue has become prevalent in the world around him.
“There has been a really bad rise in (the) crisis of gun violence in our country. I think over 39 school shootings just this year and just the whole thing with Nashville. It's been crazy. Gun violence needs to stop,” said Valdez.
On the contrary, some students, such as Anthony Keshek, 12, walked out in support of their Second Amendment rights.
“(The purpose is) to scam kids, but I’m trying to go for the Second Amendment rights,” said Keshek. “I’m trying to leave class so I think it’s important for that. I think that it’s better to protest the protesters.”
With the walkout happening during the last few minutes of third period, many students found it as an opportunity to skip class and be with friends, which frustrated many teachers, including English teacher Megan Brown.
“I had multiple students who had come to me and be like ‘this wasn’t the reason why I left and I know that’s kind of messed up, but I want to get out of class.’ I’m not saying, they're not saying that gun violence is an issue, but they weren’t doing it for the right reasons,” said Brown.
Despite many people using the walkout as a social gathering, the purpose of the walkout remained top of mind for many.
“The purpose is just to continue to raise awareness about school shootings and gun violence, “ said Kade Williams, 12. “You’d think that at this point everyone would be on board that school shootings are bad and we should be trying to fix those and take away people’s access and ability to do school shootings and massacres, and for some reason, we aren’t at a consensus on that yet. We are out here showing our support.”
As of April 17, there have been 163 mass shootings nationwide, more than 30 shootings since the beginning of April. In 2022, there were more than 647 mass shootings and in 2021, more than 690 shootings were reported in the United States according to the Gun Violence Archive. For Pioneer’s walkout, students came out to protest gun violence but there were also students protesting to protect the Second Amendment. Some people, however, used the protest as an excuse to get out of class early.
Despite the mixed crowd of people in attendance, Mario Valdez, 10, decided to walk out and protest as the issue has become prevalent in the world around him.
“There has been a really bad rise in (the) crisis of gun violence in our country. I think over 39 school shootings just this year and just the whole thing with Nashville. It's been crazy. Gun violence needs to stop,” said Valdez.
On the contrary, some students, such as Anthony Keshek, 12, walked out in support of their Second Amendment rights.
“(The purpose is) to scam kids, but I’m trying to go for the Second Amendment rights,” said Keshek. “I’m trying to leave class so I think it’s important for that. I think that it’s better to protest the protesters.”
With the walkout happening during the last few minutes of third period, many students found it as an opportunity to skip class and be with friends, which frustrated many teachers, including English teacher Megan Brown.
“I had multiple students who had come to me and be like ‘this wasn’t the reason why I left and I know that’s kind of messed up, but I want to get out of class.’ I’m not saying, they're not saying that gun violence is an issue, but they weren’t doing it for the right reasons,” said Brown.
Despite many people using the walkout as a social gathering, the purpose of the walkout remained top of mind for many.
“The purpose is just to continue to raise awareness about school shootings and gun violence, “ said Kade Williams, 12. “You’d think that at this point everyone would be on board that school shootings are bad and we should be trying to fix those and take away people’s access and ability to do school shootings and massacres, and for some reason, we aren’t at a consensus on that yet. We are out here showing our support.”