Estimated 2,000 Students at Watsonville High School participate in National Walk Out Day

UPDATE: 3/14/18 6:00PM
Students, staff and administration join together for National Walkout Day at Watsonville Hight School to stand in solidarity with school shooting victims and call for stricter gun control.

Organizers of the walk out say it turned out better than they could have imagined, “everyone came together to advocate for school safety, whatever their positions were, they all came, we all unified and came together as a school so I think that is the most powerful thing we can do as students,” says Perla Pineda.

Junior and fellow organizer Sophia Elizalde says when they first started preparing they only estimated 100 people to come, but numbers far exceeded expectation, “Our school really came together to perform this walkout and just advocate against gun violence and really call for safety in our schools and for
congress to take action. I think it just shows that youth are informed, they’re paying attention and they know what’s happening and once we turn voting age, we’re going to turn up.”

Elizalde says while today is one of unity, the thought of gun violence happening at their school is still in the back of her mind, “I thought about it today, I thought someone could come to our walkout right now and shoot us up. Especially after sandy hook I got really scared because I was a kid and I just thought that could have been me.”

Some students calling for more gun control, others calling for a mental health reform, but all with one common goal. “We should be safe, something has to change” says freshman Jaime Haro.

Administrators tell KION they feel the walk out went very well. Superintendent Michelle Rodriguez says she’s proud of the students for taking the initiative to put this together, “Today, the majority of our secondary students participated in March 14th events. I am proud of the meaningful student-led activities that they created that allowed them to share in productive and safe engagement. We are supporting not just the leaders of the future but the leaders of today.”

The school did not lose any money from the walk out since it was planned and no one was marked absent for attending.

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As students walkout across the country Wednesday in recognition of those killed in Parkland, Florida, the largest high school in the Monterey Bay area is also planning a walkout with nearly two thousand students.

That’s Watsonville High School, and students there say they will definitely be heard.

Wednesday will mark exactly one month since a gunman opened fire at a high school in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 students. Watsonville students plan on showing their community that they stand together when it comes to gun violence.

Like most high schools across the nation, Watsonville High students will walk out of campus tomorrow at ten AM, but they plan on showing their strength through unity. Students plan to lock arms and surround the entire campus, sending a message that they are all together in this and they want to protect their school. They also plan on wearing all black to commemorate the 17 lives lost just a month ago. It’s something they started organizing just days after the shooting, before National Walkout Day was even planned.

“Many clubs came together and worked together to plan what we were going to do and how we were going to make it meaningful and so we’ve had meetings ever since,” said Watsonville High Senior Perla Pineda.

“I believe that it’s really important that we take this step to try and create a change because no one else is doing it. So we have to be the people to step up and raise our voice and make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said Watsonville High Junior Sophia Elizalde.

“I’m just really proud of them. I’m really proud of how they came together on their own and asked the right questions to get it to happen,” saod Watsonville High Principal Elaine Legoretta.

The students want to encourage the community to come out in support of the them Wednesday at ten when they link arms to show their solidarity. Those that do come out should wear black. And like we reported Monday, the Santa Cruz County Clerk’s office will be at the school registering students
and anyone else in attendance to vote, making their voices heard even more.

To sum up, one of the students made a great point; she told us that a month ago, no one around the country knew anything about Parkland, Florida. Today, everyone knows about it for the wrong reasons, and they don’t want Watsonville to be put on the map the same way.