Local students participate in national walkout for school safety
Students at John F. Kennedy Catholic School take part in the National School Walkout to honor those killed in school shootings.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
The sign outside Canon-McMillan High School during the National School Walkout Wednesday
Canon-McMillan High School student Donnie Finney is overcome with emotion as he hugs other students Wednesday after the reading of the names of victims of the school shooting in Florida.
Hundreds of students in districts across Washington County participated in the National School Walkout Wednesday morning to honor the 17 victims of a high school shooting in Florida and to demand more safety regulations in school.
Students at Washington, Canon-McMillan and Charleroi Area high schools and John F. Kennedy Catholic School took part in organized demonstrations at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Students from John F. Kennedy Catholic School walk out of their school Wednesday during the National School Walkout to raise awareness about school safety.
“We’re coming together today as a collective unit of students, teachers and administrators around the nation to prove that we are stronger together than divided, that we demand change and action with gun violence in schools and that we will not stop until it is achieved,” said Donnie Finney, a senior at Canon-McMillan who led the student walkout and addressed students.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Canon-McMillan High School student Donnie Finney is overcome with emotion after the reading of the names of victims of the school shooting in Florida during the National School Walkout Wednesday.
Finney and other students and staff wore matching T-shirts that used a hashtag “enough.” They walked out of school at 10 a.m. and spent 17 minutes releasing 17 balloons and reading the names of the victims of last month’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
“Our main goal was to mourn the loss of the Parkland victims,” Finney said. “Our second message was gun safety. We don’t want anything like this to happen in our country again. We want change and it starts with our students. We want action on better gun control and background checks.”
High school Principal David Helinski said about 500 students walked out with Finney, about one-third of the student body.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Canon-McMillan High School student Megan Briceland releases balloons Wednesday as other students read the names of victims of the recent school shooting in Florida.
“I am extremely proud of the kids,” he said. “They’re just trying to make it known to older generations that they know what’s going on and they’re not going to sit around and take it.”
Finney’s classmate, Esmee De Cortie, also walked out as a means of having her voice heard, she said.
“It’s a problem that isn’t going to go away unless it’s addressed,” she said. “A lot of times young people don’t realize that they’re capable of being heard or that they have something worth saying.”
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Canon-McMillan High School student Elly Miller holds a sign as students read the names of victims of the school shooting in Florida during the National School Walkout Wednesday.
Finney and some of his family and friends at Canon-McMillian plan to attend the “March For Our Lives” rally in Washington, D.C., on March 24, which was planned by Parkland survivors.
“These students need our help to send our clear message for change,” Finney said.
Students as young as sixth grade participated in Wednesday’s walkout at John F. Kennedy Catholic School, by holding signs up along Chestnut Street in Washington.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Students at John F. Kennedy Catholic School in Washington hold up a sign Wednesday honoring the 17 lives lost in the recent Florida school shooting.
“With all the school shootings and the bad things happening in the world, this is something that we as kids can do,” said eighth-grader Christine Smith.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Students at John F. Kennedy Catholic School in Washington hold a sign during Wednesday’s National School Walkout.
Smith’s classmate, Olivia Thomas, said that school safety is something that affects them on a regular basis.
“We shouldn’t have to come to school scared or fear what could happen,” Thomas said.
About 70 students walked out of Charleroi Area High School with the support of district Superintendent Edward Zelich.
“They want their voices to be heard,” Zelich said as the students took to the stage at the school’s amphitheater on the campus in Fallowfield Township. “It’s about school safety and the 17 victims. It’s impressive how respectful they are.”
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Students from John F. Kennedy Catholic School stand along Chestnut Street in Washington during a 17-minute National School Walkout event Wednesday.
The Charleroi students took turns reading the victims’ names and some information about how they died.
“That could have easily been us,” said one of the organizers, Angel Kobaly, 17.
Scott Beveridge/Observer-Reporter
Scott Beveridge/Observer-Reporter
Charleroi Area High School students hold a moment of silence Wednesday for the victims of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla.
Another organizer, Shaylee Barber, said the shooting scared her by “thinking that something like that could happen to kids our age.”
Other districts, including Washington, held assemblies indoors to remember the Parkland victims. Shaun Collins, a senior at Washington High School helped organize the assembly, which included large pictures of each of the 17 Florida victims and a survey for Washington students to voice their opinions on the school’s safety.
“School safety is extremely important to me because I have two younger siblings who will be here after me and I don’t want to get a call that something’s happened,” Collins said. “That fear needs to be taken seriously.”
Collins’ sociology teacher at Washington, Jeffrey Bunner, who helped students in his class organize the event, said administrators decided to keep the assembly indoors for safety reasons. He said he would like to see uniformity across the state when it comes to school safety regulations.
“The kids want action,” he said. “We’d like to do more to prevent those attacks from happening.”
Bunner and Collins said while they didn’t want to make any political statements on guns during the assembly, they encouraged students to contact legislators and make their opinions on school safety known.
At Trinity Area School District, an informational seminar on school security was held Wednesday night.
In Greene County, Jefferson-Morgan and Carmichaels each held a “nonpolitical” assembly in lieu of a walkout. At Jefferson-Morgan, about 75 students participated and had an opportunity to offer their suggestions to make the district’s buildings safer, according to Superintendent Joseph Orr. At Carmichaels, about 75 students participated in a 17-minute program, which included reading the names of the Florida victims.
“It was more about paying homage to the kids who perished at Parkland,” Carmichaels Superintendent John Menhart said. “They did not make this about gun control.”
Menhart said students also were asked to honor the victims by doing a nice deed for another student during the day.
“I think it was a good learning experience, and students went about it the right way,” he said.
Staff writers Trista Thurston and Bob Niedbala contributed to this report.