Thousands of high school students across the country walked out of their classrooms on Wednesday, March 14, to protest gun violence and honor the Stoneman Douglas High School victims who were tragically gunned down by 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz on February 14.
Salem High, a school with approximately 1,300 students, organized a non-political assembly from 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. instead of participating in a walkout.
Parents received a letter on March 5 informing them of the upcoming assembly.
“After the events that transpired in Parkland, Florida, student members of the Principal’s Advisory Committee asked about the possibility of participating in this 17-minute nationwide event,” read the letter. “The students who initially spearheaded the program are part of an existing and approved group at the school, and they have collaborated with the school administration on the program. They believe a walk-out says they are protesting AGAINST something, when, in fact, our students are assembling FOR something – School Safety.”
Robyn Ellis, a Salem attorney and mother of three, believes that if a school shooting happened at Stoneman Douglas it could also happen in Salem.
“I cannot believe AR-15’s are available for purchase, but there’s a gun store that sells them one-mile from the high school. That’s a national and state problem,” she said. “We need to fund the school administrators so that they can consult and engage safety experts, study and analyze each school’s weaknesses and implement appropriate safety measures. Salem is the kind of community that can serve as a model to others.”
Sophomore Berkeley Wall says she and her friends played a vital role in organizing the school assembly.
As she put it: “I was sitting in government, and Reagan Owens raised her hand and asked about the walkout. Our teacher, Mrs. Rookstool, couldn’t answer our questions, so I asked if Principal Habeeb could come to our classroom and he did. He talked about organizing a group of leaders to get together which led to the assembly.”
Junior Gabby Stricker says she proudly stood beside her classmates to honor the Stonewall Douglass High victims.
“I feel that mass shootings and mass murders wouldn’t be as much of a problem if we had stricter gun laws,” she said. “I think the event should have been 17-minutes to honor the 17 victims, as it was intended. The speeches were nice. I feel like it shouldn’t have been presented as an assembly and non-political. I understand, however, that it was at the school and they can’t take a stance on issues like that.”
As demonstrations across the nation unfolded, the National Rifle Association responded by posting a picture of an AR-15 on their Twitter account. The caption: “I’ll control my guns, thank you.”
Desmond Stone, a Salem father of four, wants everyone to know that the students who participated in the March 14 National School Walkout will be the same people voting at the ballot box in a few years.
“I am a huge advocate of the second amendment, but clearly there is common-sense gun regulation that needs to be implemented,” he said. “Our students are not stupid. They are closely watching to what’s going on. All I’m saying is, I would much rather be on the side of millennials moving forward.”