Several hundred students at Rachel Carson Middle School participated in a school walkout March 14 to protest for gun control and to mourn for the 17 people who died from a school shooting in February in Florida.

At 10 a.m., students marched out in front of the building, holding up signs and posters, yelling and chanting about gun control. They stopped and gathered and hollered, “We want change” over the roaring of the wind. Posters consisted of hashtags such as #enoughisenough, #guncontrolnow, and #RCMSstandswithMSDHI.

Photo credit: Niyathi Vadlapatla

Speeches were prepared for the special occasion. A group of seventh- and eighth-grade students organized a RCMS walkout Instagram account and posted speeches for the students.

An eighth-grade member of the RCMS walkout group held up a speaker phone and announced to the crowd: “Tears pour from our eyes as you take a moment to thank God you are awake. Blood spilled on the floor of American classrooms, police crowded the school grounds. It shouldn’t be like this, we are too young. But this is what America has become. We need change, we need it now. Enough is enough, and that is our vow.” 

More and more students stood in the center of the crowd to give their speeches.

Natalie Kattas, a member of the RCMS walkout group said, “We are prisoners of the gun, and it’s not time to run. We’re not the voices of tomorrow, we are the voices of today, and you cannot keep us at bay. We have a voice, so we have a choice. Take a moment of silence, to rid all this violence. Let’s take a moment of silence to remember all the students who have lost their lives because of shootings.”

After 17 minutes of chanting, giving out speeches, and holding up protest signs, the students walked back into the school building to continue with their classes.