Students Plan Walkout At North Shore Country Day School

WINNETKA. IL — A group of students from North Shore Country Day school will be participating in Wednesday's national school walkout. The demonstration takes place exactly one month after 17 people were murdered in a shooting at a Florida high school, and it aims to honor the lives of those killed while advocating for tougher firearm restrictions.

At 10 a.m. across multiple time zones, students will walk out of class for 17 minutes. According to organizers from the Women’s March Youth EMPOWER group, students at more than 2,500 high schools in multiple countries plan to take part in the demonstration.

Students at the middle and upper school at North Shore Country Day school plan to walk outside and observe 17 minutes of silence in honor of the victims. Many will be wearing orange as a symbolic color of the anti-gun violence movement.

Faculty and students will carry signs and posters calling for safer communities, workplaces and schools. Students organizing the voluntary protest encouraged all students, faculty and staff to join them.

“Come support us as we show our sympathy for the Parkland victims and as we use our platform to demand stronger gun regulations,” said junior Jedediah Graboys, one of the event’s organizers.

“We strongly believe that the more support, the better.”

Because NSCDS – a 540-student school with pre-K to grade 12 classes– is a private school, its employees' political speech is not restricted.

Top photo: Jedediah Graboys of Glencoe (junior) and Paige Forester of Glencoe (junior) | Courtesy NSCDS