As an estimated 100 students from Chimacum High School walked out of their classes and gathered in front of the school March 14, students from the adjoining Chimacum Middle School walked out to assemble on the track field – both actions taken as part of the nationwide school walkout in response to the Feb. 14 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Ava Vaughan, an eighth-grader at Chimacum Middle School, called upon not only her fellow students, but also her teachers and other community members to raise their voices to create change and inspire others to do the same.

“I’m asking you to put aside your political views for 17 minutes,” Vaughan said in the first of several references made to the 17 people who were killed in the Feb. 14 school shooting. “I’m asking you to actually recognize what is happening around the U.S. I’m asking you to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.”

Vaughan noted that it had been an otherwise ordinary Wednesday morning for the Parkland students when one of their classmates opened fire, the echoes of which managed to reach her across the country.

Vaughan recalled how, on that same afternoon, “I checked my phone, looking for a text message from my mom, and instead, I found a shooting. I remember looking at the screen, looking at the article, looking at the death count and looking around at my fellow teammates, my fellow classmates, girls I had grown up with for 10 years. I then imagined 17 of them gone. How could this keep happening? Why is it that 17 people need to die for us to start taking something like this seriously?”

Vaughan said students “should feel safe going to school every day, but we don’t, and how could we? How can any of us after this?”

Vaughan called upon her classmates and the community to come together “to stand for what is right,” and while she allowed that each person would have their own ideas of what is “right,” she underscored the need for deeds, in addition to words, by reiterating the 17 lives lost last month.

“It’s one thing to remember the victims and speak out,” Vaughan said. “It’s another thing to take action. If you see something, say something. Whether it’s from social media, school, a text message, at home or anywhere, if you witness or hear something that could be a red flag, report it. Don’t be the person to stand by and let something like this happen. I don’t care if that person is your friend, your relative or a total stranger, do something and tell someone.”

SPEAK UP, SPEAK OUT

By speaking to a parent, teacher, counselor or member of law enforcement, Vaughan noted that those who raise their voices could help not only to prevent deaths, but also to change someone's life for the better by aiding them in getting the help they might need.

“We cannot stand by and watch something like this unfold, because keeping some secret or joke isn’t worth a single life, and absolutely not 17,” Vaughan said. “Nothing is.”

Even as she acknowledged that “Florida is the farthest state away from Washington,” Vaughan exhorted her peers not to let those thousands of miles separate them from their fellow young people.

“When we stand together for what is right, we become more powerful,” Vaughan said. The victims who died were children, friends, sons and daughters, just like us.”

Vaughan noted that one Parkland student, Peter Wang, died holding a classroom door open for others, so they could escape before him.

“Teachers threw themselves in front of children to prevent their own students from being shot,” Vaughan said. “They were willing to save somebody else’s lives, even if it meant losing their own. We owe it to them to change.”

MOMENT OF SILENCE

Before Vaughan invited her classmates to discuss among themselves how the Feb. 14 school shooting had made them feel, her eighth-grade classmate Zula Mosher called for a moment of silence in honor of the fallen, before performing a uniquely choreographed countdown to illustrate the scope of Parkland’s loss.

“To help give you an understanding of the sheer horror, we ask you to take a look around at your friends and classmates,” Mosher said. “Think of all the memories and time you have shared with each other. Then imagine them not being there the next day. Or the next week. Or ever.”

As Mosher counted down, from 17 to 1, with each number, another student walked up to the bleachers and sat down, unzipping their jackets or sweaters to reveal black T-shirts, each with an “X” on it, each representing one of the victims of the Feb. 14 shooting.

“The ones sitting down right now represent the ones lost at Parkland,” Mosher said. “If we were to lose 17 people at Chimacum, it would be losing 9 percent of our school. We cannot afford to lose even 1 percent to something like this. I hope you leave today with a better appreciation for your friends, teachers, loved ones and community members.”

SILENCE, THEN A CHANT

In contrast to the speeches of the Chimacum Middle School students, the Chimacum High School students who walked out stood silently and held hands for 17 minutes, before commencing a closing chant of “We want change” and then filing back into their classrooms.

Aurora Plunkett, a Chimacum High School junior who helped organize her peers’ participation in the national school walkout, lamented that she wasn’t able to take part, but reported receiving feedback from community members who deemed it a healing experience.

“I am so proud of all of my classmates,” Plunkett said. “They’re so brave, and it’s wonderful to see how many people stood up for what they believe in.”

Plunkett said that she and a number of her classmates have begun writing letters to their elected representatives, and are planning to attend school board meetings to ensure that such school shootings remain a top priority.

“I hope this is just the beginning of a movement that’s bigger than ourselves,” Plunkett said. “It cannot be pushed back. We’re making a difference to protect our siblings, our nieces and our nephews. They are our future, and protecting them should be at the forefront of everyone’s minds.”

Chimacum High School Principal Brian MacKenzie reported that the 100 students represented roughly half of the students in attendance that day.