MONTE VISTA– About 20 Monte Vista High School students participated in the national walk-out against gun violence on Wednesday, March 14.  The walk-out was a national movement in schools of all levels to commemorate the one-month anniversary of the school shooting at  Majory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which claimed the lives of 17 student and staff members.

The walk-out took place at 10:00 a.m. ( in the local time zones of those participating)  and accordingly lasted 17 minutes, allowing the students to take the time to reflect and speak about their thoughts on violence in schools, school safety, gun violence and bullying. The event has sparked advocacy in youth across the country, and Monte Vista’s youth advocates had many thoughts to share on the subject as well.

Upon hearing about the national demonstration, school staff took appropriate steps to ensure student safety was paramount while retaining the students’ ability to express their thoughts on these controversial topics.

Athletic Director Greg Jones said if everyone in the country was aware that students would be demonstrating at 10 a.m., it made the students too vulnerable to someone who wanted to target them if they just went out the front door and stood on the sidewalk. Thus they were relocated to an outdoor space equally accessible for the students but not visible to those driving near campus and more easily supervised.

Officer David Pino of the Monte Vista Police Department was also on hand to supervise the situation and monitor the access points of the area selected for any outside threats. The students were also supervised by Principal Scott Wiedeman.

Valley Publishing was allowed to enter the school and the demonstration area only after all student traffic was complete and the initial safety of the area was confirmed by staff.

Some of the students demonstrating, Madison Edmonds, Matty Jones, Kaitlynn Chavez, Angel Gallegos, Anjanae George and Jimena Lopez agreed to discuss their reasons for joining the demonstration. Jones said they wanted to show respect for the youth who lost their lives in Florida.

“It’s sad happening to anyone but especially when they were so young,” she said. “People don’t take it seriously and joke about it, but we’re here to show respect for them.”

Edmonds added “It’s a big deal when a high school gets shot up. It could be us or later on our children. That’s what we want to prevent.”

The students expressed frustration with the disconnect between the national value and perception of school safety and the reality of how students feel about their situation. Often they returned to the expectation that they should feel safe in school and safe around their peers.

After roughly 13 years in school with their fellow students they expressed “we shouldn’t be scared of each other,” but school feels tense for modern youth and small things can make them feel anxious and paranoid.

One demonstrator discussed something being loudly dropped in a hallway recently and most of the students in her class immediately looking for the source, worried it was a possible threat. The seemingly constant mass shootings have created an environment where students have to worry about their surroundings at all times and they can no  longer share in the security felt by previous generations, something the demonstrators didn’t feel was too much to expect.

Edmonds suggested raising the age limit to purchase guns as a possible violence prevention method while some of her peers pointed to bullying. Chavez and Gallegos added bullying was an obvious cause of violence in schools.

“Kids want to see change about bullying but nobody wants to do anything about it,” Chavez added.  The students acknowledged that changing bullying has to start in part with their generation and in their everyday interactions, but they also wanted to see real policy changes as well to help eliminate bullying, leading to increased safety in their daily actions and their overall perception of safety in schools.

Students both still fear retaliation from their peers for reporting bullying and don’t feel school policies go far enough in protecting students and uprooting the causes of bullying.

Perea emphasized the need for students and all people to respect one another and remember the reasons they were out demonstrating. “Honestly, it’s not about the guns… we’re all people and we should all treat each other with respect. That’s what it comes down to.”

The students spoke briefly with Wiedeman at the end of the 17 minute demonstration, who thanked them for their composed demeanor and willingness to modify the plan. The students returned to class without any incidents or protest.

 “The kids were very respectful and peaceful,” Wiedeman said. “I’m very proud of them.”