On September 20, 2024, students at Wheeler High School walked out of class in support and solidarity with the community affected by the school shooting at Apalachee High School. Directly after first block, students were given a sticky note to write down their reason for walking out and instructed to go to the football field, where they put those sticky notes on a poster board and stood in the bleachers. Three students, Morgan Clark, Edward Kim, and Nicholas Hiroki-Pirone, stood in front of the student body and honored the victims of the Apalachee school shooting, emphasized the need for change, and urged everybody to take action against gun violence.
The walkout was almost entirely student-organized, first appearing as a post on Instagram. The accounts @wheelerhswalkout and @whs.againstgunviolence were instrumental in spreading news of the event, with many students reposting their posts. Originally, the walkout was supposed to occur directly after first block, but then changed to fourth block, then back to first block, until eventually being approved by Principal Gilihan to happen during homeroom. Morgan Clark (10), one of the organizers and speakers for the event, commented, “There was a statewide walkout happening on this way, so we went to social media and Instagram, and we just had a lot of people just spread the word.”
Lars Peterson (10), a student who participated in the walkout, comments, “I am walking out because I got to. It’s our safety; it’s our life’s on the line. We have to show support, we have to show solidarity, we need to show that we care enough to make a difference. We need to do everything we can to change the leadership, change the laws. There is no reason why someone would buy an AR-15 except to shoot up to school, so we need common sense gun laws. We need to change things.”
Another participant in the walkout, Avery Hutchinson (12), says, “We shouldn’t have to be afraid to be in our classrooms. The number of deaths due to gun violence in America versus every other country is staggering and heartbreaking.”
In his speech, Edward Kim emphasizes how important it is that students are speaking out and how it has always been students at the forefront of social movements: “In major moments of national social change, students coming together and speaking about their challenges pushed the needle. Could you imagine how behind Civil Rights would be without the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee or the Southern Christian Leadership Conference? What about the Vietnam War? The movements were fought on college campuses, not the halls of Congress, not the Oval Office.” He urges students in particular to take action, to encourage others to vote. He says that students should “communicate your ideas, even to those who may disagree.” In a separate interview, Morgan Clarke also encourages students to “go out and vote, and even when you’re not old enough, support political figures that you know will keep you safe.”
Morgan also spoke to the student body, expressing how horrific the issue of gun violence is in America:” Gun violence claims lives every day throughout this country, affecting every town and every state, and it remains a threat that none of us are safe from. It is a burden we should not have to carry. School should be a place where children can learn without
having to consider escape routes in the back of their mind, where teachers can nurture the next generation of students without fear that their own lives will be taken as well…It is owed to us to go to prom rather than funerals, to read books instead of obituaries, and to write essays instead of eulogies. It is owed to us that our elected officials work harder to protect kids rather than guns.”
The students of Wheeler High School have made their position clear. The gun violence issue in America is unacceptable. We must take action; even if we cannot vote, we can raise awareness. The fact that students have taken the time to organize this school-wide event shows that even as students, we can still make a difference.
