PARKLAND, FLA. (WSVN) - South Florida students left their classrooms on Friday to march for gun reform as part of the National School Walkout.
At Cooper City High School, students formed a heart on their football field. Students from Ransom Everglades School in Miami marched throughout Coconut Grove and towards Miami City Hall.
“This is where our local representatives are, so if we want a meaningful destination for our walkout, here is where it starts and here is where change is going to happen,” said student Daniel Freedline.
The National School Walkout took place on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School Massacre in 1999. Just two months ago, on Feb. 14, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High was the site of a mass shooting that took the lives of 17 people.
In Parkland, some students began marching from Stoneman Douglas for not only gun reform, but in remembrance of the 13 lives lost at Columbine High School.
“I’m now 18 [years old],” said Stoneman Douglas student and activist David Hogg. “This is the 19-year anniversary of Columbine, and we’ve had this happen again as a testament to the stagnancy that we have in our government and why, now, we as citizens must stand up and take action when our politicians won’t.”
“This has always been a reality for us,” said Stoneman Douglas student and activist Delaney Tarr. “We’ve always known about mass shootings, it’s always been a part of our culture and we always, to a degree, accepted it. Because, when you’re born into something like this, you kinda just – you assume that it’s normal, when it should never be normal.”
Students were not alone in their rally – teachers also joined the cause by holding signs and calling for change.
“Specifically, we need gun reform,” said Stoneman Douglas english teacher Chelsea Briggs. “We need, honestly, as teachers to get paid more.”
“I was one of the first people who stood up and said, ‘I do not wish to be armed at school,'” said Stoneman Douglas culinary arts teachers Ashley Kurth.
Change has taken place at Stoneman Douglas, however. Clear backpacks have been issued and security has increased on campus.
“They’re going to use what they learned and try to make a change,” said Stoneman Douglas AP government teacher Jeff Foster. “They’re everywhere today. We have kids in Columbine today, we have kids in Tampa today, we have kids in Arizona for the special election today, and they’re trying to get people in office that will do for us as opposed to do for the interest groups.”
A group of students from Calvary Chapel Christian Academy arrived at 10 a.m. to Fort Lauderdale’s city hall, holding signs and meeting with Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis.
“This is what democracy looks like,” students chanted as they held signs.
“We just wanted to gather here to today just to keep the conversation going,” said student Ariel Feldman, “because we do not want to be the mass shooting and the school shooting generation. It’s been going on our entire lives.”
“You are our voice,” said Trantalis. “You are the voice of America today. You’re all over our magazines, you’re in all the newspapers, and now you’re on TV.”
Students are hoping that with their efforts, others will follow and continue making changes across the country.
“I think now, students across the nation are galvanizing and realizing that it’s with our conjoined efforts that we will be able to affect change,” said Stoneman Douglas student Demitri Hoth. “The future’s in our hands, so we have the responsibility to make it a great one.”
Those students who did not march from Stoneman Douglas stayed behind and participated in community service.
More than 2,500 schools across the country participated in Friday’s national walkout.
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