LAURINBURG — Rather than protesting, students at Scotland High School and Scotland Early College will be proactive during today’s national student walkout.
The 1,485 students at Scotland High will join the national observance by promoting an idea that encourages inclusion.
The National School Walk-out was created to memorialize the 17 people killed in a shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school and to push for gun control legislation. The walkout will last 17 minutes, one for each person killed. The protest marks one month to the day that Nikolaus Cruz came to the campus of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School with an AR-15 rifle and opened fire on students and faculty members.
After the shooting, high school students led by students from Parkland began to pressure state and federal lawmakers to ban assault weapons, require universal background checks and to take guns from people who present a threat.
Scotland High students will join those participating in the walkout at 10 a.m. by observing 17 minutes of silence to honor the victims of the Parkland shooting, but they will remain in class.
During the observance, a bell will be rung 17 times, according to Principal Brian Edkins.
To replace the protest, a group of SHS students have created a walkup campaign to address issues that some say led Cruz to shoot up his former high school. The group hopes to encourage unity and student involvement rather than voicing a political opinion.
“A walkout is very disruptive to classes, and we didn’t want to cause an uproar in our school. We wanted to reach out to people rather than try and make our point by walking out of school,” said Jason Kang, a senior at Scotland.
The students have challenged each other to reach out to 17 other students especially those who may seem lonely or marginalized. The idea is to create a more understanding environment in school, discourage bullying and to engender compassion and kindness among students.
“Instead of the entire school walking out and making a point, we want to encourage students to go up to one another and talk to them, make them feel included, make them feel appreciated. That way we can discourage any future situations that could occur similar to what happened in Florida,” said junior Ali Andrews. “Pretty much everyone in school agrees that while walking out makes a point, walking up keeps those individuals who might feel like they might hate their school, like they might want to cause violence in any shape or from. Walking up to them and making them feel like they’re included will make a bigger difference.”
Some of the students hope that the walkup idea will extend throughout the school year rather than just one day. Senior Anniya Davis believes extending the movement through the year will be more effective and beneficial.
“It will make more of an impact if you walk up to somebody every day and ask how their day is going because you never know what somebody could be going through, and if you ask them it could make their day better despite what’s going on,” she said.
The students at Scotland learned of the walkup movement on social media.
The walkup effort was born from a Facebook post by David Blair, a former middle and high school teacher in Texas. In the post, Blair makes an impassioned plea for students to change their behaviors rather than trying to change gun laws. His idea for creating changes is based upon his 24 years of observing the actions of students in schools where he taught.
Blair begins by encouraging students to “put down your stupid phone.” He tells students to look around, see someone in need and reach out.
“Do you see the kid over in the corner, alone? He could likely be our next shooter. He needs a friend. He needs you. Go and talk to him, befriend him. Chances are, he won’t be easy to like, but it’s mainly because no one has tried to like him,” Blair writes. “Get to know him. He’s just like you in that respect; he wants someone to recognize him as a fellow human being but few people have ever given him the chance. You can.”
He tells students that they are the answer to discouraging school violence and their humanity might be the only thing standing between an ostracized student and a school shooting.
“Your greeting, your smile, your gentle human touch is the only thing that can change the world of a desperate classmate who may be contemplating something as horrendous as a school shooting … look into the eyes of a student who no one else sees,” Blair said.
As part of the day, the school system is rolling out a See Something Say Something campaign that encourages students and the community to report behavior that might be dangerous.
The school has added a link to its district app to give parents and students an option to report safety issues or bullying.
“We’ll be rolling out the tip line where students, parents, community members anyone with the app can go on and click the tip line and can report any kind of concern that they may have and it will go to an administrator who will investigate the report,” said Meredith Bounds public information officer for Scotland County Schools.
Edkins hopes to include the anti-bully campaign already in place at the school as part of the See Something Say Something effort. There is already a link on the school website to report bullying incidents.
Students have also filmed a public service announcement about the program.
Edkins is enthused by the students’ involvement.
“Scotland High School is such a tight knit community that you want them to build relationships. A lot of the students probably spend more time here than they do their house, and we want to make this as safe and as friendly an environment as possible,” Edkins said. “I applaud them that they want to get involved and do the walkup and look around their school and include people.”
SEarCH students will not hold a protest either.
Students at SEarCH will have an opportunity to write their thoughts on how to end school violence on a banner in the commons area at the early college, according to Principal Patrick Peed.
There will also be a PowerPoint presentation paying tribute to the Parkland victims and suggestions on what students can do to make sure that type of attack doesn’t happen in Scotland County.
“They can also post a video with the flip grid app where they can tell what they’re doing or their thoughts on what we can do to stop school violence,” Peed said.
The banner and presentation are a compromise between the school and the students some of whom wanted to walk out according to Peed.
“We discouraged a walkout because of our partnership with Richmond Community College and St. Andrews University, partly because of safety concerns and because some of the college students might not be able to join,” Peed said.
SEarCH has 185 students who take high school classes alongside college classes in order to earn a high school diploma and associates degree at the same time.
The University of North Carolina at Pembroke has not planned an event related to the walkout, according to Jodi Phelps, director of University Communications and Marketing.
Public school administrators around the country have responded in various ways with some threatening students with suspension if they participate while others have created school assemblies to aid students in their efforts to honor victims and to protest. Horry County schools in South Carolina will not allow students to walk out. School officials say that allowing students to protest creates a security issue.