‘Kids Shouldn’t Be Afraid At School,’ Pleasanton Students Say

PLEASANTON, CA — A handful of Pleasanton students gathered at the Pleasanton Tennis Park Sunday afternoon to raise money for victims of the deadly high school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Students from Foothill, Amador Valley, Hart, Harvest Park and Pleasanton Middle schools spent about three hours painting slogans on orange t-shirts and designing posters to use during the upcoming school walkouts in March and April.

The high schoolers took turns holding signs along Hopyard Road and Valley Avenue to alert residents to the fundraiser.

Foothill sophomore Darina Wolf, 16, said the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 people dead hit very close to home for her. Wolf’s cousin lost a friend during the massacre. Alexander Chen, 16, Arishi Avachet, 15, Derek Dressler, 15, and Wolf all collaborated to organize the event and create Students For Social Change. They alerted other students to the fundraiser using social media and word of mouth at school.

The teenagers created a GoFundMe page for the victims of the shooting and they have launched a petition to push lawmakers to come up with "common sense gun control" laws.

They said they plan to turn their group into a nonprofit organization and hope to eventually organize a march down Main Street. The online fundraiser has garnered $860 since it was created. Almost 500 people have signed the petition.

"These 17 lives, 17 children, will not have died in vain," Wolf wrote on the GoFundMe page. "This shooting will be the last mass shooting, and students should never be afraid to get an education. We hope you will support us in this fight for a safer learning environment and common sense gun laws!"

The students said they all plan to participate in the upcoming nationwide school walkouts on March 14 and 24th. They hope to walkout again on April 20, on the anniversary of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting that left 15 dead and 24 injured.

Photos courtesy Autumn Johnson/ Patch

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