#ENOUGH: Blackfoot High School participates in national walkout

In light of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, many schools around the country planned on having a walkout on March 14 at 10 AM. On Monday, March 12, student council members met together with the administration to talk about the walkout.

“The student council meeting was about how the school is going to handle it. Mr. Thomas came in and talked to us and said what format should be used. Should we do it during advisory, during lunch, how should it go?” Payton Parks (10) , the sophomore class president, said.

At the meeting, the members also decided how the walkout was going to work. Parks said, “Once there, everyone is going to go around the lap once then afterwards have a student-led assembly, but what was really important was that it is student led.”

After the meeting, the council members and the principal decided that the schedule would be based around the walkout. Also, Mr. Thomas told student council that the students who went and participated in the walk out would not be punished.

On Wednesday, the students were released at 9:55. After they walked around the track, they signed a poster that shows the high school’s support for the 17 people who lost their lives a month before, then the student body gathered in the middle of the football field. Shantelle Hunt (12), the student body president, then addressed the body by reading a pledge.

The pledge stated how the school members are all a family, and that they should all come together at times.

“It was something read and stated to the students years ago, but people started to forget about it and no one talked about it’s meaning. We wanted to reiterate it’s meaning while still holding on to past tradition,” Hunt said.

To conclude the walkout, the student body was told that the school as a whole will perform 17 acts of kindness. The students were then released back to their second hour class.

Although the majority of the school went out to participate in the walkout, some students stayed inside and went to their advisory classes. Many of the students that stayed in didn’t want to go out either because they didn’t know the purpose of the walkout, or they didn’t want to be associated with it.

Hunt said: “I think the walkout was beneficial. It gave students that wanted to participate a chance to come together and support not only each other, but students nationwide. It gave us a chance to find out what it really means to be a Bronco.”