By Xime BG
At 12:00pm on Friday September 5th there was a nationwide walkout that Ironwood Ridge participated in. IRHS school principal, Orante Jenkins, says that, despite the name of the national event, it was not a walkout but “an organized demonstration” since it had an orderly audience which took place in the auditorium. The student organizers of the event got permission from administration in order for this to happen. Jenkins says the students wanted to demonstrate their solidarity against gun violence in schools. His response was, “We want your message, it is positive, it needs to be heard.” Administration didn’t want anything negative to derail the message which led to the decision to hold the event in the auditorium. “If we have to deal with a disruption of the educational environment, it takes away from the message that is trying to be conveyed,” said Dr. Jenkins.
The local organizers were Jaya Rodriguez and Sarah Mitchell. The walkout was organized through the “Students Demand Action” organization who Rodriguez says encourages people to help make a change and has had multiple events like this in the past. “I think it’s time for someone to speak up and do something about this because we can’t just ignore this and let it keep going on,” said Rodriguez regarding the recent incidents involving gun violence. “We really need to focus on the problem because children are dying, people are dying and the places of education should be their safe place.” Rodriguez and Mitchell’s reason for contacting administration was because students are too scared to get in trouble and they were worried that would limit the number of students that felt they could be involved. “The more people, the more impact we make, and the more people we spread the message to” said Rodriguez.
The Nighthawks that participated in the event voiced their opinions on the importance of it happening. Benjamin Hughis said it was about restricting gun laws since safety of the children is the main priority. Violet Gerner said students don’t feel safe in the classroom. Gerner says she was willing to learn more about gun violence in schools. “That’s why I came, it was interesting” she said. Freshman James Tomson shared his reason for showing up saying, “I wanna learn to be safe.” Maddison Spears said, “I don’t think anyone should have a stomachache when they are pulling up to school and getting out of their car.” According to Spears, her relatives have experienced the same fear and her brother has even had an encounter with gun violence. “I want it to stop” she says.