Joliet Central Walkout 'Exceeded My Wildest Expectations'

JOLIET, IL - The movement was in the making for days. Students around the country had plans to stage a student-led protest. They would barge out of their buildings to send a message, a powerful message, to their school leaders, their communities and their elected officials. They are sick and tired of seeing other children their age slaughtered in mass school shootings, the latest being last month in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17.

But what would teenagers in Joliet Township High School District 204 do? Their school administrators wanted them to behave, to be obedient, to follow their orders. They were expected to remain in their classrooms and participate in a school-district sponsored activity with a hashtag of #OurJT17.

In the end, here at Joliet Central, when the clock struck 10 a.m., hundreds of Joliet Central High School students spilled out of their main entrance and down the staircase. They were freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. They were of all nationalities and ethnic groups.

They had chosen to defy their school district's administration to become part of a growing national movement that had a hashtag as well, #NationalSchoolWalkout.

On Wednesday, according to some accounts, at least 500 Joliet Central students gathered outside their historic limestone building at the roundabout to participate in a history-making movement.

"Nationally, this is a student-led push," Joliet Central High School junior Nate Schultz, 16, told Joliet Patch on Wednesday night.

"When you consider how successful it was at Joliet Central ... all different classes ... I was surprised."

Patch was on hand to cover the Joliet Central walkout and captured several photos of students exiting their building, but administrators from the district's central office were also camped outside Central.

RELATED STORY: District 204 Urges Students Not To Walk Out Of Class

District administrators asked that we stay off their school grounds during the student-organized event. The Joliet Herald-News, the local print newspaper, was already being kept about a half-block away.

At any rate, Joliet Patch worked fast to post its live coverage, prompting Joliet Central students to share the Patch coverage on their social media platforms to their friends and many followers.

According to Schultz, he was one of a handful of Joliet Central students who spoke and addressed his fellow pupils during the walkout.

He said his classmates were encouraged to participate in the Democratic process, to register to vote when they turn 18, to actually vote, to reach out to their elected officials, to write their state and federal legislators and to donate money to organizations that are trying to change America's gun laws to improve student safety.

Patch asked Schultz how he felt after the Joliet Central walkout was over.

"Really motivated," he responded.

"Kids were so energized.

"It exceeded my expectations. We were anticipating a much smaller turnout."

Not everybody in America was thrilled by Wednesday's national high student protests.

Several readers made disparaging remarks on social media, complaining that many of these high school students were simply following the herd and had no clue why they were actually protesting or walking out of their respective school buildings.

At Joliet Central, according to Schultz, not one student who participated in the 17-minute-long walkout actually walked off the campus and ditched school Wednesday.

Nobody wandered off to the nearby Subway restaurant or cut class, he insisted.

Rather, everyone returned to their normal class activities once the protest was over, Schultz said.

What did he learn from Wednesday's event?

There is strength in numbers, nationally and at Joliet Central High School.

"Kids are engaged in politics. There is no sense in letting it stop. We need to carry this out as far as we can," he told Patch.

The following high-quality photos were taken by Joliet Central High School student Jashui Zarate.

Images via Joliet Central High School student Jashui Zarate provided Joliet Patch with permission to use