Plant High Students Express Grief, Outrage On School's Sidewalk

TAMPA, FL – They couldn’t console the grieving parents or hug the frightened students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

So students at Plant High School came up with another way to express their support for the friends and family of the shooting victims as well as their outrage over the proliferation of school violence.

On Friday morning, Feb. 16, students turned the sidewalk in front of the high school at 2415 S. Himes Ave., Tampa, into a giant message board.

Using colored chalk, the students wrote messages of support, expressed their outrage about what occurred and called out for action to make sure the tragedy isn’t repeated.

The student-led effort to create the sidewalk message board received the enthusiastic endorsement of the school staff and school district administration as a way for students to express their grief, anger and frustration by taking positive action.

In addition to comments like, “This could have been us,” “Can your hear the screams?” and “We shouldn’t need this much chalk,” students used the sidewalk artwork as a platform to tell the nation’s leaders what they think.

“Make change. Inaction in the face of evil is just as evil,” wrote one student.

Another student pleaded, “Congress, do your job!”

Still another left this simple but poignant sentiment: “We are dying. Do something!”

Images via Plant High School