Zanesville students hold walkout in honor of school shooting victims

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- Students at Zanesville High School participated in National Walkout Day in honor of the lives lost in the Parkland, Florida shooting.

Students across the country are saying enough is enough and are raising awareness for school safety. Despite the bad weather and two hour delay the students at ZHS filled the gym at 10 a.m. to honor the 17 lives lost in the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School. Cobe Curry and Jack Thorne, both juniors at ZHS, organized the event to promote safety in their hallways.

“We want them to know that they’re not alone and feeling, like, on edge,” said Curry. “We had a little bit of a threat earlier this year that people might not have felt safe, but I thought the school handled it great. They handled it just as they should have.”

Thorne agreed with Curry.

“By having this walkout, by bringing everybody together and letting everybody know that, you know, they’re truly not alone in how they feel,” said Thorne. “It brings everybody together and it ensures each other’s safety.”

The event began with the names of each of the 17 victims read and then a 17 second moment of silence was held. The students finished the 17 minute event by chatting with one another and meeting new people. A teacher involved with the event says handled the event with maturity.

“Our kids in the audience were extremely respectful. I was so proud of them,” said Jessica Swainbank-Cummings a Spanish teacher at the highschool. “Very respectful, full attention, didn’t see anyone on their phones or having side conversations they were very engaged.”

Curry and Thorne said they did not want the event to become political and instead wanted to focus on bringing the students and faculty together.