Days after at least 19 high school students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, students from schools across the country marched in protest of armed violence.
In Michigan, students at Oxford High School, where a school shooting took place in November, organized an outing at 12 noon Thursday. Four students were killed in the shooting.
The Oxford High School student leaves class on May 26, 2022 to show his support for the community of Uvalde, Texas, and the recent mass shooting that took place at Robb Elementary School.
Mandi Wright / Detroit Free Press-USA Today Network
Students at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California also left the classroom in support of the National Arms Security Movement. The school was the site of a shooting in November 2019, in which two students were killed.
Students also went to school in Port Washington, New York, and Falls Church, Virginia.
Student organizers say at least 600 students left Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington in the early afternoon.
Emma Janoff, an 11th grader at Schreiber and a member of “Students Demand Action,” a national organization against armed violence, says she was active in gun control policy and school safety after the Parkland High shooting. School of 2018.
Oxford High School Student Returns to School After Leaving Classes on May 26, 2022 in Oxford, Michigan to Show Support for the Uvalde, Texas Community and Recent Shooting mass that occurred at Robb Elementary School.
Mandi Wright / Detroit Free Press-USA Today Network
“You see news every day about shot kids and people your age dying and it’s incredibly sad and unbelievable, especially seeing how younger kids and kids my age are,” Janoff told ABC News. “I can’t imagine it being me, but it’s imaginable because it happens so often.”
The 17-year-old says her school administration supported the march and hopes the more than 200 planned demonstrations across the country will send a clear message that students are a “single front”.
A march may not necessarily change legislation, Janoff said, but these actions show that “students are still united in this.”
He said that while most students are not old enough to vote, they still want to see a change and are willing to take steps to make their voices heard in politics.
“Students don’t have to shut up about this just because they’re a kid,” Janoff said.