By Stella Bold and Peyton Dauley
On March 14 Mashpee Middle-High School will be joining over 2,000 other high schools nationwide by participating in a 17-minute walkout, dedicated to the memory of the Parkland shooting victims. Just a month after this horrific event, organizers known for creating the Women’s March in Washington D.C. last year planned for the #Enough! Walkout, to raise attention to the issues students find most pressing, such as mental health awareness, school security, and preventing future school shootings.
*The organizers of the #Enough event hope to let students be heard in a way unlike any other. “We need action,” they write on their website. “We believe that the single most powerful act we can do is prepare young people with the skills and commitments to take action around causes that matter to them."
And action is what students have demanded. From walkouts, to assemblies, to protests, students have let their voices be heard in a way unlike any other. “What we must do now is enact change because that is what we do to things that fail: We change them,” said Parkland survivor Lorenzo Prado. As sophomores here at Mashpee Middle-High School, we hope to bring his words to reality.
On March 14 Mashpee Middle-High School will be joining over 2,000 other high schools nationwide by participating in a 17-minute walkout, dedicated to the memory of the Parkland shooting victims. Just a month after this horrific event, organizers known for creating the Women’s March in Washington D.C. last year planned for the #Enough! Walkout, to raise attention to the issues students find most pressing, such as mental health awareness, school security, and preventing future school shootings.
*The organizers of the #Enough event hope to let students be heard in a way unlike any other. “We need action,” they write on their website. “We believe that the single most powerful act we can do is prepare young people with the skills and commitments to take action around causes that matter to them."
And action is what students have demanded. From walkouts, to assemblies, to protests, students have let their voices be heard in a way unlike any other. “What we must do now is enact change because that is what we do to things that fail: We change them,” said Parkland survivor Lorenzo Prado. As sophomores here at Mashpee Middle-High School, we hope to bring his words to reality.
When we came upon this website maybe three or four days after the devastating attack on Stoneman Douglas, we saw its plan to aid students in leading their respective schools walkout, and we were immediately intrigued as “...someone has to do something, a lot of schools are doing it, and it’s finally making people pay attention.” Mashpee is generally safe; most kids accept that as fact, but so did, I imagine, the Parkland students before 17 normal people lost their lives on a usual school day.
The walkout seemed, at the time, simple and straightforward. Later on we found that we should alter the plans to fit our school better. Originally it went like this: at 10:00 in the morning students would leave their classrooms, protesting the lack of action from our legislatures on issues such as gun reform laws, mental health funding, and school security. It would end at 10:17, and students would return to class and finish the day as previously planned. While we ended up changing some aspects of this raw plan we kept the 17 minute-length and main ideas as they contribute to the cause, dedicating a minute to each victim in the Florida shooting.
During the very first night of “planning,” (over-excitedly texting at 12 AM) there was a lot of talk about email writing and possible support from teachers. Ironically enough we had also recognized the potential for the “...Falconer article of a lifetime.” But at the same time we weren’t entirely sure that we would have the support from our administration; meaning we were prepared to continue anonymously. We had also discussed creating social media and posters to spread our word. The next day is when things got more serious.
February 18 and 19 is when we began coherently planning. We created both an Instagram (@mashpee.enough) and a Twitter (@MashpeeEnough). Along with the creation of the accounts we also put up our first post. This was really our first step in making ourselves known, and by the end of the week we had a surprising following of 100 students and supporters.
One day later we decided to contact the Principal, Mr. Balestracci, and the Superintendent, Mrs. DeBoer, as the support from our administration was preferred for us to continue planning and communicating with news reporters. While Mr. Balestracci was out of office we received a quick reply from Mrs. DeBoer later on that same day, and fortunately for us the contents conveyed her support of our movement. Our former fear of having to work anonymously and without school aid was disintegrated.
While our movement is still and will remain completely student-driven and run, we have been lucky to gain approval from the administration, and to have their full support and guidance. With their blessings, we have moved forward with customizing the #Enough! Walkout to fit the Mashpee agenda, by planning to host our walkout in an assembly-like fashion in the auditorium. Students will hand out orange awareness ribbons, to show solidarity and unity in our beliefs, and some students have even offered to give a speech.
Our whole purpose behind planning the Mashpee walkout was to give our peers a voice. Whether they do that by wearing an orange ribbon in awareness, or speaking at the event, we believe that we have done our part. And as a result, we have given Mashpee an influence in modern politics, and in our country.
However, joining our assembly isn’t the only way to get involved. After the walkout, you can join the March For Our Lives rally, taking place in Hyannis on March 24. From there, you can contact our congressmen and women, and other figures in government.
Students always have a voice in politics, no matter how quiet it may seem. And together, as seen throughout history, we have the power to change fundamental foundations of our country, by speaking out and standing up for what we believe in.
*This paragraph has been edited after publication to remove an incorrect characterization of the position of the #Enough organizers on gun control.