Students Plan to Walkout Wednesday, March 14

by Leah Peloff ’18

Exactly one month after the tragic act of gun violence at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Sherwood students are planning a walkout to demand stricter gun safety legislation. This walkout will be taking place on Wednesday, March 14 at one of two times: either 8:00 am for the march to the White House or 10:00 am for the on-campus walkout.

MoCo Students for Gun Control have been planning the White House march for weeks, gaining support from more and more schools all over the DMV. There are currently nearly 30 schools that have committed to participating, many estimating they will bring more than 300 kids. Seniors Brooke Weichel, Kali Dang, Everett Stubblefield, and Ben Gratz have worked with students and representatives from other schools to organize Sherwood’s walkout plan and spread the information to as many people as they could.

If students do not feel comfortable going all the way to D.C or do not want to miss a whole day of school, there is another option of an on-campus walkout. Led by the Amnesty International club, participants will walk to the stadium at 10:00 am and sit silently for 17 minutes, honoring the 17 lives ended in the Parkland shooting.

“We wanted Sherwood students to have multiple opportunities to make their voices heard, so the on-campus walkout serves as an outlet for those who do not want to miss an entire day of school to be able to participate in demonstrations that are taking place around the country,” said Weichel.

Another difference between these two demonstrations is that the campus walkout is school-approved while the D.C walkout cannot be supported by the administration due to students’ exit from the school boundaries. Therefore, students should talk to their teachers prior to leaving campus to make sure they won’t be missing any assignments that will be marked as a zero due to an unexcused absence.

The point of these demonstrations is to show lawmakers that students will no longer stand for shootings that result in innocent children and adolescents dying at school. They aim to make their voices heard and stand up for issues they are passionate about.