Students at several Siouxland area schools joined others around the country Wednesday in staging walkouts to protest gun violence.
The nationwide walkouts are the biggest demonstration of student activism that has emerged following the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14th in Parkland, Florida.
South Sioux City High School gave students different options to participate.
Sophomore Julissa Cancino serves on the schools’s student council, and helped organize a memorial tribute and balloon release to the 17 people who died in the Florida shootings:
OC……… our student body. :15
Sophomore Emilia Perez also helped put the event together, which included a brief reading about the life of each of the 17 victims:
OC…….really tragic happened. :09
South Sioux City School Superintendent Todd Strom says students were also allowed to walk outside the building and sit for 17 minutes or stay in class and discuss the issue with their teacher and classmates:
OC………..great conversations. :21
Strom and High School Principal Odell Santos were both proud of the leadership shown by the students in organizing their fellow classmates:
OC………..excited for them. ;14
Sergeant Bluff and Le Mars High Schools and Sioux City High Schools and Middle Schools also had students participate in the national walkout.
