Gilbert, San Tan Valley, Mesa students walk out for 17 killed at Florida high school

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About 200 students at Gilbert High School met at the school stadium on February 21, 2018, to honor the 17 people who were gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Gilbert High School students on Wednesday were the first in the Valley to take part in a wave of classroom walkouts following the shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 dead last week.

Thousands of students across the U.S. walked out of class Wednesday, whether in protest of gun violence or solidarity with the victims of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

About 200 Gilbert High students left their classrooms to gather at the school stadium at 9:10 a.m. for 17 minutes of silence — one to honor each victim of the Feb. 14 school shooting.

Snapchat videos that were publicly posted to Gilbert High School’s story show 17-year-old Brooklyne Moore leading the vigil by the school’s outdoor bleachers. 

"We’re standing in support for Florida the 17 lives that were taken so abruptly," Moore said.

She went on to urge students to "think about what we ... can do to prevent this from happening again" because "we will not stand by until the next school shooting happens."

"I challenge you to sit with a completely new group of friends at lunch, or to invite somebody new to hang out, sit with that one kid by himself, console the kid crying in the hallway," Moore said.

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Co-organizer Rebecca Rosenblum, an 18-year-old senior, said she had the idea for the walkout and asked people in a group chat on Friday to participate. Moore provided the when and where, she said.

"Surprisingly, the school was on board and even told teachers to help guide students the right way to the bleachers," Rosenblum said.

In a later Snapchat video, a woman’s voice made an announcement on Gilbert High School's intercom, praising the vigil. 

“We are very proud of the class and respect you demonstrated for your learning and for our campus by coming together in tiger stadium,” the woman says. “It never ceases to amaze us of the compassion and the love that we have here at Gilbert High School. Always continue to be kind and to value each other.”

Noon walkouts at other Valley schools 

Around noon, students also walked out of Combs High School in San Tan Valley and Highland High School in Gilbert, according to a Snapchat video. 

Video from Highland High shows students chanting "end the violence, no more silence" and holding hands in an oval around the school's running track. 

Floods of students also walked out at Mesa High School in Mesa.

A few hundred students walked a mile at noon from Mesa High School near Gilbert Road and Southern Avenue to a nearby park and then back to campus. 

Their message was clear: Political leaders need to enforce gun control.

“We want to be heard,” said Mayra Castellanos, a 17-year-old Mesa High junior. “What happened in Florida means a lot to us because we’re high schoolers and we want to be able to feel safe at our school.”

She said President Donald Trump should be focusing on implementing gun control to dictate who can buy and own firearms in order to prevent another tragedy. 

Fatima Alvarado, an 18-year-old senior, echoed Castellanos’ sentiment. 

“Gun violence is a big problem all of us are scared that it may happen at our school,” she said. 

Alfredo Cruz, 18, said there should be a balance in respecting gun owners’ 2nd Amendment rights and gun-control restrictions in order to keep schools safe.

“We shouldn’t have to feel threatened at school,” he said. 

Students at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale have planned a walkout and peaceful demonstration for noon on Thursday.

Why students are walking out 

Student survivors of the Parkland, Florida, shooting have called for a march on the nation's Capitol and other cities March 24 to press their demands for safer schools and legislation "to effectively address the gun violence and issues that are rampant" across the U.S.

Organizers of the Women's March held across the nation last month called for a 17-minute walkout by teachers nationwide on March 14, the one-month anniversary of the attack at that left 17 people dead.

The Network for Public Education set April 20 as a Day of Action, calling for protests at schools on the day marking the 19th anniversary of the deadly shootings at Colorado's Columbine High School. One such protest will be held at Gilbert High, students said.

Republic reporters Kaila White and Uriel J. Garcia contributed to this article.