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Grant Park High School students walk out Wednesday morning

Students walk out of Grant Park High School Wednesday morning. Josh Arason/Global News

One month after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, 1,300 students and dozens of faculty members walked out of Grant Park High School Wednesday morning.

They did so to show support for students in the States, honouring the victims of the Feb. 14 shooting and calling for continued activism on gun control.

READ MORE: U.S. students stage mass walkouts across country to protest gun violence after Florida school shooting

As soon as everyone assembled outside at 10 a.m., one student read the names of the 17 people who were killed last month then called for a minute of silence.

“Our principal was immediately on-board [with the walk out], we’ve had support from the superintendent,” organizer Izzie Helenchilde said. “The staff here really support student activism.”
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“The students in Florida definitely had some push-back whereas we were lucky enough that we had full support of teachers.”

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Some of the students in River Heights held signs during the 17 minutes spent outside — one minute for every victim.

READ MORE: Florida school shooting: Students back to classes 2 weeks after massacre

“We’re next. Our generation is the future,” Helenchilde said.

“Soon we’re going to be able to vote. Soon we’re going to be able to build society, and we need to know that young people are educated and informed enough to do right from wrong.”

Several speakers encouraged everyone present to take action on a topic that means something to them – whether it was Indigenous rights, women’s issues or taking on climate change.

“Students do care,” Helenchilde said. “They want to have a voice, they want to be involved in something.”

 

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