Students advocate for school safety with walkout

Audrey Caudle

Maddie Brown, senior, leads a meeting of students who are willing to walk out of class in order to raise awareness for the recent school shootings that have been happening around the country. They are also walking in remembrance of the 17 victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School schooting in Parkland, Fla. on Feb. 14, 2018.

Maddie Smith, Reporter
April 18, 2018

Students all around the country are speaking up with movements like March for Our Lives and the National School Walkout. On Friday, April 20 students here will have the opportunity to walk out and speak up for what they believe.

The school-wide walk out will occur at 9 a.m. on the football field and last for 17 minutes to honor the 17 lives lost in the Stoneman Douglas shooting.

The protest will count as an excused absence, so students who would like to participate can inform their teachers and then promptly without disturbing the class walk out onto the field. They must return after the walk out or it will be an unexcused absence.

Maddie Brown, senior, has been planning this walkout along with about 15 other really involved students. Over 200 students have an interest in walking out.

“We are hoping that more join when they hear more about the event,” Brown said.

Brown and others have met with other schools in the Olathe area to plan the walk out together.

“Working with the other Olathe schools as well as other schools in the Kansas City area has been extremely exciting,” Brown said. “All of the schools have been really helpful, and the other leaders have been great!”

The biggest challenge for Brown has been making sure students are on the same page, that students should know what they are fighting for.

“The reason we are walking out is to show that the teenagers of the nation will no longer stay silent,” Brown stated. She wants teens to feel like their voices are being heard and that what they are saying matters.

While being a leader for this event, Brown has learned many things. “Most importantly, I have learned that my voice matters, and the voices of my classmates matter,” Brown said. “This walkout is the event to show that the teenagers of America know what they are talking about and they are demanding to be heard.”

If students would like to get involved with the walk out and make their voice heard, they can be added to the Olathe South group chat on Group Me by asking Maddie Brown or any other student in the chat to add them.

Other ways to get involved would be to call their politicians and voice their thoughts, send letters and register to vote.