On February 14th, 2018, former expelled student Nikolas Cruz of Stoneman Douglas High School walks into the school building occupied by more than 2,000 innocent students. Succeeding in looking like a student by wearing the uniform and blending into the crowd at school, the perpetrator easily entered the school.  He ends up killing 17 students and gets apprehended with 17 counts of premeditated murder. This has opened many students, parents, and political figures’ eyes about the safety of school and position on gun control. It has taken a rude awakening for students across the nation to take a stand on gun control. Following the tragic events at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Woman’s march organizers have planned a walkout to protest the leniency of gun control. The people involved in the March demand that Congress takes action on gun control in response to the recent school shooting that left many students frightened about their safety.

The event is scheduled to be on March 14th at 10 AM in every time zone. The goal is to honor the 17 victims that passed away in the shooting by lasting for 17 minutes. Starting out as a Facebook event, the project named #EnoughWalkout has been noticed across the nation and many schools ranging from elementary schools to universities have been talking about the event. There have been different opinions on whether or not it’s right for students to join the walkout on March 14th. “(The Walkout) It’s good, because it implements that teenagers are starting to care about the surrounding issues like gun control and instead they aren’t engraved into their phones— if anything, it shows that generation Z might not be the generation that revolves around technology, but instead we are starting to focus on the world.” – Damilola Agunbiade.

The event is alerting many high school students around the world, because now the students are afraid for their own safety. Police at our school have given their perspective on the recent safety measures taken at Westside and their views on the walkout.  “I support everybody’s right to freedom of speech, but you have to realize that if you do it during a school day, you’re going to have to face some type of consequence. Law enforcement will only get involved if you’re violated someone else’s civil rights. As long as it’s a peaceful protest, I don’t have a problem with it” – Officer J. Hayes. As of the student body, although we’ll be on spring break during the March 14th walkout, students are supporting the peaceful protests for the safety of our schools. If you would like you join a local group on March 14th, there are 3 places near Westside that are participating. They are the following places: WAIS. 901 Yorkchester Dr Houston TX 77079 ; Linkwood Park. 3699 Norris Houston TX 77025 ; Tomball Memorial High school. 19100 Northpointe Ridge Ln Tomball, TX 77377 United States tomball TX 77429. Together we rise!