There have been 26 school shootings this year. Not this school year; 2018 alone. Two months into this year on February 15, 2018, 17 students were killed, and at least 14 others were injured as a result of Nikolas Cruz who used a semi-automatic rifle to end the lives of innocent high school students in the Parkland, Florida Shooting.
The Parkland shooting has been the longest covered school shooting on the news and is leading citizens to put some effort into standing up for what they believe in and fighting for injustice. From this shooting, an increasing number of protests have come, started by passionate students, and carried out throughout the nation. These activists have set up two planned walk-out events: The National School Walkout on March 14 and The March for Our Lives on March 24. The common theme linked between these two events is, “Enough is Enough”. The simple theme is an attempt to end school violence and possibly even better regulate gun laws. It is reassuring to see how people from different backgrounds, walks of life, and even political views can come together when it comes down to protecting the children of the country.

Thankfully our school has not gone through a shooting like this, but with the increasing popularity of these tragedies, our distant fears seem to become a closer reality or possibility. That is to say, even though the shooting happened across the country, we are still finding ourselves effected by it. The day after the shooting occurred, on Friday the 16th, during first period, we had a lockdown drill. For me personally, lockdown drills have always just been something that happened. Something that was a ‘what if’ and not seen as something that could very easily happen. This drill was different though, students felt the realities of the shooting from the day prior settle in as we huddled in the corner of the room in silence and darkness while we waited for the ‘okay’ to move again. After this particular drill, my heart hurt at realizing that we even had to practice a scenario like this, but simultaneously felt blessed and lucky to still be safe.

Despite the political views, diversities, and ideologies that make up Seattle Prep, I know our community can able to band together to stand up for these victims and portray the voices they were not able to portray themselves. At Prep, we are taught to spread our ideas and beliefs while learning and helping others, and this is the perfect time to do just that and show our country the power of our school community.