GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Students from several area schools participated in Wednesday’s “National School Walkout.”
The walkout is part of a national debate about school safety and gun violence.
The plan was for students to have a 17-minute walkout. Many of the walkouts started at 10 a.m.
Seventeen is not an arbitrary number. It’s the number of students killed by Nikolas Cruz at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Cruz is currently facing 17 first-degree murder charges.
The school shooting sparked outrage from students at the Florida high school.
Many of the surviving students have urged Congress to pass stricter gun laws.
Thirteen schools in Northeast Wisconsin are listed as walkout participants on this website.
One of those is Bay Port High School, where roughly 200 students gathered outside the building.
In addition, 17 chairs were placed around the area where the students sat, one for each lost life.
Junior Abbi Bender organized the event, saying their motto for the event is ‘#NeverAgain.’
“We just want action taken by our representatives. I think we’re all really frustrated with just hearing them say that we’re in their thoughts and prayers or tweeting their condolences.”
Since the Florida shooting massacre, Bender says the students have discussed how to handle a similar tragedy.
“We have the ALICE procedure set in place here. We did it last month, I believe, where we talked about what we would do if we were in that classroom.”
Principal Mike Frieder reflects on the walkout.
“It’s pretty powerful. It’s definitely a situation that you don’t want to deal with.”
However, he notes it’s a topic that needs to be discussed in today’s day and age.
Frieder feels the event can be beneficial.
“It’s a learning experience for (the students). Sometimes, we think learning can only happen in a school, but it happens all over the place.”
While it wasn’t a school sanctioned event, parents could ask to have their kids excused from class.
Elsewhere, kids at Green Bay East took part in the walkout.
Trudell Chatman explains what he hopes comes from it.
“I’m hoping to achieve, like, that all the shootings stop in the schools and, like, people sticking up for each other, stop all the bullying that’s going on in the schools.”
Hunter McGowan believes changes are needed to the nation’s gun laws.
“Security or better background checks. Something that will help reduce the amount of weapons that are put into the hands of people.”
Isabella Di Salvio explains why she supports the walkout.
“I think that it is bringing so much awareness to this gun problem and school safety epidemic and people need to know that students go to school and they hear about these things and they don’t feel safe. I’m hoping to share this and share that there is stuff that needs to change, that it can’t stay the same.”
Davion Turner explains why he took part in the walkout.
“We appreciate all of them and we’re sorry for what happened and stuff like that and what happened to all the kids and all the school shootings we really want to stop it.”
Meanwhile, Oconto Middle School found a different way to remember the victim’s of last month’s deadly Florida school shooting.
Students and staff joined up with Oconto’s mayor and police and fire departments to walk together.
The students were also challenged to say hi to 17 new people, compliment 17 people, and sit by 17 different people at lunch, one for each person killed.
