What to Know
- Students across South Florida planned events for Wednesday, walking out of class starting at 10 a.m.
- Since the February 14th mass shooting that killed 17 people, students have staged walkouts and protests at schools across Broward County.
- Over a hundred students from Douglas High boarded buses on Tuesday, traveling to Tallahassee where they will meet with politicians.
While hundreds of students and staff are in Florida’s state capital to push for stronger gun laws in the wake of last week’s Parkland school tragedy, students at several South Florida schools began walkouts to show solidarity with their fellow youngsters Wednesday.
Chopper 6 was over several high schools - including Cypress Bay in Weston and Western in Davie - as students filed out in protest around 10 a.m., spending an hour outside voicing their views before returning to class.
At Western, students carried large signs, each listing the name of a school where a shooting has taken place, along with the date of the shooting and the number of dead. Others carried signs with #NeverAgain.
Hundreds of students left classes at Hialeah High School around 11:30 a.m., carrying signs and chanting.
"It's our right to feel safe in our schools and I think the government needs to do something," Hialeah High student Lilia Herrera said.
A similar scene took place at Coral Springs High School, with students forming a large heart on the school's football field.
"We’re protesting for better mental health care and stricter gun laws so things like this can’t happen in our schools anymore because we need to make a difference. It can’t happen anymore," Coral Springs High student Jaylen Pesantes said.
After the walkouts, hundreds of students gathered outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where last week's shooting took place.
They chanted "never again" and "I will not be a victim" and joined hands and held them aloft at about 2:20 p.m. Wednesday. That's about the time the Feb. 14 shooting began.
"We’re trying to make a change. We’re tired of it. We don’t want kids like us dying and ruining our future," Coral Springs Charter School student Connor Manning said.
Since the February 14th mass shooting that killed 17 people at Stoneman Douglas, students have staged walkouts and protests at schools across Broward County, as well as an event Tuesday in which students from West Boca High School in Palm Beach County walked over 11 miles to the Parkland school.
Over a hundred students from Douglas High boarded buses on Tuesday, traveling to Tallahassee where they will meet with politicians – including Gov. Rick Scott – in their continued push to change gun laws in the state. A bus filled with Broward County teachers left early Wednesday morning to attend a rally in front of the state capitol building.
"We don’t have a price on our heads, we’re kids, we’re human beings and the fact that we have to go to school everyday and think 'oh wow, somebody might want to kill us,'" Hialeah High student Gabriel Forbes said.
