Walk Up Not Walk Out, Paulding Student Flips The Script

PAULDING COUNTY, GA — Students from all over the United States participated in the National School Walkout memorial protests Wednesday, but some students flipped the script by Walking Up instead of Walking Out.

The Walk Up movement alternative was offered by Ryan Petty, the father of one of the students killed in last month's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

"Instead of walking out of school in March 14, encourage students to walk up," he posted on Twitter. "Walk up to the kid who sits alone at lunch and invite him to sit with your group; walk up to the kid who sits quietly in the corner of the room and sit next to her. ...Walk up to your teachers and thank them; walk up to someone who has different views than you and get to know them — you may be surprised at how much you have in common."

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That is exactly what many students throughout the area and across the country did, including one young lady from Paulding County's Sammy McClure Sr. Middle School.

Eliana Terrebonne, a sixth grader at the school, brought donuts to school with one of her friends and they shared them with other students they didn't know. She got the idea from her homeroom teacher, Ms. Tolar.

" My friend and I heard about the 'students stand up-not out,' day and felt encouraged to do something special," she said. "We each bought a dozen donuts to hand out to people we didn't know. People would get so happy when we gave them one. I didn't know something as small as just one donut could make someone's day, but it was really inspiring to see how happy students would get by receiving something.

"It lead us to make conversation, and we even made a few new friends along the way," said Eliana. "Also, everyone in the school got an encouraging note on their locker, courtesy of a group of seventh grade girls. It was a great surprise and we were all so excited to see something so kind going around the school. This was more affecting to students than walking out of the school building during the day because many students only wanted to skip class. But this way, we saw so many smiles and laughs, and it's the best I've ever seen the school. It would be great to see something like this happen more often."

Eliana's mother, Laura said, "They decided on a way they could make a positive change in their school. Kindness. In our home, we talked with our children [ages 9, 12 and 17] about the Walk Out movement. We discussed the goal of the movement and about various ways, they as students, could be heard and could contribute to the discussion. We noted that many students don't feel connected at school and how this disconnect impacts the community."

One photo floating around Facebook encouraged people to:

• Walk up to the kid who site alone and ask him to join your group.
• Walk up to the kid who never has a voluntary partner and offer to be hers.
• Walk up to your teachers and thank them!
• Walk up to someone and just be nice.

In nine days there will be a March For Our Lives protest in Washington, D.C., and several other cities, including Atlanta, on March 24. About 730 of those events are planned worldwide.

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Photo courtesy Eliana Terrebonne