Change Starts With Us

Photo+by+Lestyn+Park%2C+staff+photographer

Photo by Lestyn Park, staff photographer

Andrea Sanchez, Editor

On February 14th of 2018 a mass shooting occurred at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. This made it the 18th school shooting of 2018. Yes, 18th. 17 people died that day. These are their names; Alyssa Alhadeff, Scott Beigel, Martin Duque, Nicholas Dworet, Aaron Feis, Jaime Guttenberg, Chris Hixon, Luke Hoyer, Cara Loughran, Gina Montalto, Joaquin Oliver, Alaina Petty, Meadow Pollack, Helena Ramsay, Alex Schachter, Carmen Schentrup, and Peter Wang.

Following the school shooting, the students of Stoneman Douglas High School decided that enough was enough. They took it to social media to begin to demand change. Some students even got to come face to face with politicians to demand the much needed change. The students have been asking the politicians enough with the condolences–stricter gun laws are what is needed! Children cannot keep dying at the hands of guns. Many rallies have been held in protest of gun laws. On March 14th, a month since the school shooting had occurred, a national walkout for 17 minutes was held.

Our very own students here at Pinole gathered at 10 am on the football field to take part in the movement. We got to hear many moving speeches from our very own Yassna Ahmadi, founder and president of the Political Revolution Club at school that organized the walkout, along with speeches from Annett Tamayo and Alajah Burns. Students stood outside and listened to powerful words from our fellow Spartans and gave 17 minutes of silence in memory of the victims of the Parkland shooting despite the rain and hail we encountered.

We are the future. Change starts with us. Our voices will be heard, we will not be silenced. We will continue to rally. We will do whatever it takes to make sure that change is made. We as students should not fear for our lives everyday at the place that is giving us our education. We should not have to run from guns. We will not stop until there are stricter gun laws that don’t make it so easy for the average person to purchase a military gun in 30 minutes. We will not stop until background checks are required for each and every gun that is purchased. We will not stop until students can once again feel safe in their classrooms. We will continue to call out lawmakers and those in power until serious change is made. We are the change.