Again, students here join nationwide protests over shootings

The student-led campaign for safer schools continued Friday morning with demonstrations across Snohomish County marking 19 years since the mass shootings at Columbine High School.

The walkouts were the latest in a national movement started by students after another, more recent deadly shooting in Florida.

About 200 students participated in a mid-morning walkout at Lake Stevens High School.

“The main goal was getting people to stand up for what they believe in, no matter what they believe in,” senior Holly Smith said.

Protest organizers passed out voter registration forms and gathered school supplies to share with a group that works to help homeless teens.

“If we really want to see a change, it is going to come from our generation,” said Kendra Otto Von Askervold, who also is a senior.

Students walked out of Jackson High School and marched 1.7 miles down the Bothell-Everett Highway to Mill Creek City Hall. They were accompanied by police on bicycles alongside and behind them. The roughly 150 students carried signs and chanted, “Enough is enough.”

Sophomore Abby McNeal was impressed by the feedback from motorists. “A lot of cars driving by honked at us to show they supported us. It was cool to see that,” she said.

Wilson Wang, a junior, said it is important for students to take a stance.

“We are the generation to change anything,” Wilson said. “We have the awareness of how the government is and we don’t want the government to be like that.”

Students took turns giving short speeches. Freshman Amber Beauvais gave one of the loudest.

“It wasn’t really a speech. It was just kind of shouting at the government in anger and frustration,” she said. “I’m so tired of our government being resigned and caring more about their NRA money than our lives.”

Sophomore Ava Henning was impressed by the camaraderie at the gathering.

“I liked how everyone from all cliques were here,” she said. “Everyone was respectful of them and listened and was applauding them. I saw kids that I don’t usually get along with at school. When you’re here you all come together and you’re all one. Nothing divides you when you’re here.”

Xzavier Hamilton, a junior, helped organize the event. He said he and about 10 other students started a social activism club after the Florida shootings earlier this year. “I don’t feel safe anymore and I wanted change,” he said. The club meets to discuss mental health issues and gun violence.

Some students from Monroe joined the Mill Creek march and rally, which ended by noon.

Hundreds of other walkouts were taking place across the country Friday with the Parkland, Florida, shootings very much on students’ minds. A 19-year-old shooter there killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14. Young people involved in multiple protests since then are asking for stricter gun laws, improved mental health care and a focus on school safety.

Thousands of area students have taken part over the past few months. There were walkouts on March 14 and the March for Our Lives on March 24. Some events have focused on gun control, others on school safety in general, and still others on building relationships and creating a better environment at school.

Friday’s walkouts intentionally took place exactly 19 years after 12 students and a teacher were killed in the attack at Columbine High School in Colorado. Students in Lake Stevens observed 13 seconds of silence in honor of those lost at Columbine.

Students from nearly a dozen schools in Snohomish County planned events. Others on that list included Cascade, Mariner, North Creek, Snohomish and Lakewood high schools, Explorer Middle School, Cedar Way Elementary and Edmonds Community College.

Snohomish County schools have been touched by gun violence. In 2014, a freshman fatally shot four classmates, injured another and killed himself at Marysville Pilchuck High School. In 2016, four Kamiak High School graduates were shot, three fatally, at a house party.

Meanwhile, an 18-year-old from Everett is awaiting trial on an attempted murder charge for allegedly planning to shoot classmates at ACES High School. His writings indicate the attack would have happened Thursday. His journal entries show he was modeling his plan on the Columbine killings, including purchasing a carbine rifle of the same design used by the shooters.

Organizers of the Lake Stevens High School walkout said the march was about standing in solidarity with the Parkland students, while Friday’s walkout was intended to push for change.

“It will be important for our generation to fix the glorification of violence,” said Jocelyn van der Put, a senior at Lake Stevens.

Students headed to the football field after walking out during third period. Around 9:40 a.m. students began heading back to class.

“People came together from all walks of life,” said Lake Stevens sophomore Lily O’Brien, “from the left and right, standing together.”