JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Around 75 students walked out of Science Hill High School Wednesday afternoon in protest of gun violence in schools.
It came after last week’s mass shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, which claimed the lives of six people, including three children.
Walk-outs happened at schools nationwide, organized by Students Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
Science Hill students wanted to join in making a statement.
“This is just us trying our best to make it heard and important, but this is the best we can do,” said student Ivanelize Sanatan. “We need other people to work with us.”
These students are asking for help in a statewide and nationwide issue that they feel like they have no voice in.
“We see school shootings happening everywhere like the one that just happened in Nashville last week,” said student Ally Poland. “And we’re kind of the first ones that are going to be affected by this but the ones that have the least impact on stopping it.”
The protest even had the support of some parents.
“[My daughter] has a voice and she’s using it,” said parent Alicia Zamora. “She’s speaking for the ones that don’t have a voice or that are afraid to talk. I can’t be more proud of her.”
Some students participating in the walk-out said they hope their voices will make a difference.
“As the young people, this generation, I think we can truly make a change if we just use our voices,” said student Ellie Huber. “People will need to listen, be forced to listen.”
School officials said they knew about the possibility of the walk-out ahead of time and called in additional police officers to ensure the safety of the students.
No serious repercussions were placed on the students that decided to participate in the walk-out. Teachers were still able to count them as absent from class though.
“As a district, we respect our students’ rights, however, it was important for us to ensure they were safe while on Science Hill’s campus,” Science Hill principal Josh Carter said in a statement.
