COURT HOUSE – Middle Township High School was one of four county schools to join a nationwide walkout March 14 protesting gun violence and paying respect to victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Fla.
Hundreds of students from Middle Township, as well as Ocean City, Wildwood, and Lower Cape May Regional high schools, walked out of class for a 17-minute demonstration to mark the one-month anniversary of the shooting death of the 17 Florida victims.
They joined a movement of hundreds of thousands of students from New York to California who walked out of class at 10 a.m. in their respective time zones, some with support from school administration and some without.
Middle’s students and faculty met in the gymnasium where they carried orange signs outside to an athletic field.
In a speech, student Brianna LaFleur said change needs to happen, because “these shootings will continue” otherwise.
“In Middle Township, in Lower Township, in the smallest corners of the globe, mass shootings will end,” she said. “Because we will come together and do what’s right. The names of the victims of the shootings will not disappear.”
LaFleur implored her classmates to use their votes when they turn 18.
“There are parents in Parkland (Fla.) right now that are just devastated because they won’t witness any of the things that our parents are fortunate enough to see us achieve,” she said.
Student Delaney Tice took to the podium next, announcing, for Middle Township, “Today is not about politics.”
“You are encouraged as the future generation of this country to voice your beliefs because that is the principle that this country was built for,” she said. “But that’s not what today is for.
“Today is the day for this country to come together and acknowledge that people are dying,” Tice continued. “Children are dying. We are waking up, we’re going to school, and we’re never coming home.”
Tice said mass shootings would continue “If we continue to neglect what it actually means when someone dies.”
“I get at least one notification on my phone every day announcing some form of violence or hatred that has left at least one person dead,” she said.
Student Joshua Hettenbach read a speech written by classmate Emma Stanford calling on students to “reach out” and check on one another.
“Empathy is the key link between ourselves and others,” the speech read.
A moment of silence followed after members of the National Honor Society read the names of the three faculty and 14 teenagers who were killed by a gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Student Miranda Targum, 17, of Court House, joined the walkout to call for change.
“Schools as a whole needed this in order to really empathize with another school and understand that it’s not just one school or one shooting,” she said. “Your parents can send you off to school and never see you again.”
Students planned the walkout with the support of faculty, Principal George West said. After students went to West with their idea, they met with administration and determined they would demonstrate by giving speeches behind the gymnasium.
“The bottom line is that 17 lives were lost last month, and it shouldn’t be happening in our schools,” West said.
Assistant Principal Nancy Loteck said the administration helped plan the demonstration to ensure students “exercise that right” safely.
“This county really is supportive of the students’ rights and desire to want to have their voices heard,” she said.
To contact Taylor Henry, email thenry@cmcherald.com.
Cape May – Why don’t some of our well established builders even answer their phones, answer texts or emails. Who would ever recommend them to a friend.
