Pioneer Valley students marched and mourned March 14, walking out of their schools and holding still for 17 minutes of silence, one minute for each of the 17 victims who were gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, one month ago to the day.
It was a day of national protest called for by the youth wing of the Women’s March, the group that organized the demonstration of the same name in Washington last year.
On the morning of March 14, thousands of students poured out of schools around the country, staging walkouts, rallies and vigils — in some cases encouraged by their school administrators, in others, protesting despite threats of disciplinary action.
Locally, students organized a wide range of events, from passive, heartfelt recognition of the lives lost in Florida to active demands for changes to gun control laws and school safety measures.
At Belchertown High School, students walked out of classrooms and into the school’s auditorium to show solidarity with the Parkland students.
Two student speakers addressed the crowd of approximately 200.
“Like Emma Gonzales, we call B.S. on the idea that we are too young to understand and be involved in this necessary change,” junior Maggie Knapp told her fellow students, referring to a survivor and student activist from Marjory Stoneman Douglas. “So today, we will make our voices heard. We will use our voices with our representatives, we will go to the polls and make a change in the world. Just by being here today, you’ve made a commitment to be a part of the change, but there is more to be done.”
The students began the doing as soon as the talking was done. They signed a banner that will be sent to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and filled out postcards to send to local and state representatives, and grabbed information on how to become a registered voter.
Event organizers Lily Stowe-Alekman, 17, and Knapp, 17, said they were happy with the turnout — more students had come to the auditorium than had registered in an online forum.
“This is a moment we can’t miss out on,” Stowe-Alekman said. “It’s history for our generation.”
“Older generations love to say we’re the leaders of tomorrow,” Knapp said, adding that they often don’t feel like their voices are recognized.
Working on a postcard, junior Andrew Abely, 17, said he took part in the walk-in to urge lawmakers to take seriously “this atrocity that has been spreading across America.”
“Lives should come before the right to possess firearms,” he said.
Sitting near the back of the auditorium, 16-year-old Arianna Piedra sat with three of her classmates working on postcards. “I think you should fight for what you believe in,” she said.
Students at other schools across also organized events, including at Hampshire Regional Middle and High School and the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School.
Hopkins Academy students had expected to walk out of the school, but instead administrators made a day-of decision to turn that walkout into an assembly in the school’s gym.
“It had to do with the weather,” Superintendent Anne McKenzie said of the decision.
For senior Leah Picard, not being able to leave the school was upsetting, and she said she was worried the students’ message wouldn’t be able to reach the greater community.
She was not alone in her disappointment. Numerous students from the school called the Daily Hampshire Gazette to share their views.
“The whole purpose was to leave school because it’s not as safe as we want it to be, but we were kept in the school,” Picard, 17, said. “It was important for me because it’s sad that we have grown up in a world that is full of violence and guns, and I think when we try to speak about it, we’re told ‘You don’t understand.’”
She continued that the walkout was a chance for students to have a voice and a platform — like students their age around the country — and they weren’t allowed to participate like the others.
Sophomore Virginia Cannella, 15, said she wasn’t surprised by the administration’s decision to keep students inside. She added that the walkout would have had a lot more impact if they were able to leave the school building.
“I believe that school should be a safe haven and a safe place for every single student. Every student has the right to be safe in their own classroom,” Cannella said.
Echoing the sentiment, sophomore Gabby Palmisano, 16, said, “We’re expected to go there and be educated and do all those things. We should at least expect to be safe when we go there and know our lives aren’t in danger by just trying to get an education.”
McKenzie said students shared their thoughts and a moment of silence, and then were encouraged to talk to 17 strangers or engage in 17 acts of kindness. McKenzie herself said she was visiting with students who decided not to attend the assembly.
In Springfield, local students and others from Holyoke and Boston joined area activists to protest directly in front of the corporate headquarters of the firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson.
Wednesday’s events were not the only ones planned around the issue of gun violence and school shootings. On March 24, national demonstrations are planned, with some local students attending a march on the nation’s capital.
And on April 20, to mark the 19th anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School, there will be demonstrations.
