A Freshman’s View

On Friday, April 20, an assembly was held in the auditorium 1st period for ninth graders to express their frustrations on the recent increase in school shootings across the country. Before the assembly started, people I spoke to were apprehensive but curious about the direction it would take.

The assembly started off with a news video documenting the trauma that the Parkland School students went through. Speeches were then made by students Christa, Peter, and Arianna who memorialized those who have lost their lives to such evil acts. They started off the grade-wide discussion with recognizing that if innocent students’ lives could be lost, where does it end?

After this, microphones were left in the front of each aisle to let students express their thoughts. Many people volunteered and were extremely passionate, all getting an abundance of applause for their bravery of sharing their views with the grade.

My grade level seemed to focus on the fact that waking up and being scared to go to school is not ok. Also, it was made clear that even though we are young it is still possible for us to bring about change. After about 15 people shared their thoughts, another video was shown in memorial to those who died in past school shootings.

The assembly was an effective way of helping students to share their thoughts with one another and come up with a solution. Throughout the rest of the day, many students who went to the assembly said they were moved by the experiences and opinions of other people who shared their views to their peers.