Thousands of students across the country on Tuesday staged a walkout from their high schools to protest gun violence in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead.
Students from several neighboring high schools in Florida took to the streets in a show of solidarity with Stoneman Douglas students.
Video footage taken from television news helicopter crews showed at least 1,000 students who walked out of West Boca Raton High School on Tuesday morning, apparently bound for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in nearby Parkland.
Many of the students wore backpacks and walked about 11 miles down the road and across county lines to deliver their message.
Thousands of students across the country on Tuesday staged a walkout from their high schools to protest gun violence in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead. Students from West Boca Raton High School are pictured during their walkout
Students from several neighboring high schools in Florida took to the streets in a show of solidarity with Stoneman Douglas students. Pupils from West Boca Raton High School are pictured during their walkout
Video footage taken from television news helicopter crews showed at least 1,000 students who walked out of West Boca Raton High School on Tuesday morning, apparently bound for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in nearby Parkland. Students from West Boca Raton High School are pictured during their walkout
Students from West Boca Raton High School are pictured on the streets walking 11 miles down the road to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
The protest started with hundreds of students coming together for a moment of silence to make sense of the deadly shooting and honor those killed. But within half-an-hour the school’s principal came out to order everyone to head back to class.
And while some listened to his words, at least 1,000 were angered and instead turned away from their classes for the day and left the school for the day to march to Parkland, according to the Miami Herald.
‘We can’t just sit in silence, we need to actually take action,’ one student told WSVN-7.
Lauren Simth, a 16-year-old sophomore at West Boca, told the Herald that a handful of students inspired the walkout when they got onto tables and started chanting.
‘Most of us got zeroes on quizzes today,’ she said.
‘I don’t think we should have to do that to make a change, but we do. And it’s important that we do.’
The protest started with hundreds of students coming together for a moment of silence to make sense of the deadly shooting and honor those killed. But within half-an-hour the school’s principal came out to order everyone to head back to class. West Boca Raton Students are pictured
Many of the students wore backpacks and walked about 11 miles down the road and across county lines to deliver their message. Students from West Boca Raton High School are pictured during their walkout
Some of the over 1,000 students who left school on Tuesday at West Boca Raton High School are pictured arriving at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
Ema Sare is hugged as the west Boca High School students joined hundreds of students at the neighboring school Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
And down the road, students gathered outside Fort Lauderdale High School, holding signs with messages that included ‘our blood is on your hands.’
And as that was happening, thousands of miles away at a high school in North Carolina about 50 students walked of Polk High School in Hendersonville.
The students walked to the school entrance sign where they were greeted by an equal number of supporters.
Student body president Drew Bailey said school shootings are a humanitarian issue. Student body secretary-treasurer Luke Collins said students are tired of living in fear.
Students held cards with the names of 17 people killed last week at a high school in Parkland, Florida, when a former student went on a rampage with an assault rifle.
Polk County Schools Superintendent Aaron Greene supervised the event and helped direct traffic into the school.
Further west students at Lenoir City High School in Tennessee paticipated in a walkout Tuesday morning.
And as that was happening, thousands of miles away at a high school in North Carolina about 50 students walked of Polk High School in Hendersonville (pictured)
The students walked to the school entrance sign where they were greeted by an equal number of supporters
Pictured are about 50 Polk High School parents and community members who met with students at the walkout on Tuesday
At the same time students from Stoneman Douglas boarded buses that would take them to the Florida legislature in Tallahassee so they could pressure state lawmakers to pass more restrictive gun laws
The walkout was planned to take 17 minutes – one minute for each student killed- but instead turned into an all-morning discussion, assistant principal Gregory Boling told Knox News.
About 100 of the school’s 1,165 students were present at the walkout and the discussion – and after lunch about a dozen remained to continue the conversation, which was entirely student led.
At the same time students from Stoneman Douglas boarded buses that would take them to the Florida legislature in Tallahassee so they could pressure state lawmakers to pass more restrictive gun laws.
Dozens of reporters and cameras swarmed the students as they prepared to leave. Many of the students wore burgundy T-shirts of the school’s colors. They carried sleeping bags, pillows and luggage and hugged their parents as they loaded the bus for the 400-mile journey.
On Monday, students at American Heritage High School held a similar protest.