2,000 Students Walked Out At South Brunswick High

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — An estimated 2,000 students walked out of class Wednesday morning at South Brunswick High School, superintendent Scott Feder confirmed.

"We filled the homeside bleachers that fits 2,000 and had staff and students standing on the track, as well," said South Brunswick senior Jenna Cohen, a member of the Student Council and one of the teens who organized the event.

"It was standing-room only and we were squeezed in. 2,000 is on target without question," said Feder, the superintendent.

South Brunswick's numbers make them one of the largest walkouts in the state, if not the biggest. Wednesday's walkout was part memorializing the Parkland victims, part calling for an end to gun violence and, for some students, it was also about calling for stricter gun laws across the U.S.

For Cohen, the walkout today was non political.

"This was not about gun control," she said. "The actions taken by SBHS students today was completely non-political. Our message and motives were to support and honor the victims, as well as leave kids feeling empowered to make a positive difference in the community."

"Inspired by the seventeen victims lost in Parkland, South Brunswick High School has developed #WhatsYour17 as a character-building initiative challenging everyone to make our community better," she said. "What seventeen things can each of us do to enhance life for others in our society?"

Seventeen empty desks were place on the football field, representing the seventeen students and teachers killed in the Parkland shooting on February 14. Beginning at 10:00 a.m., all 2,000 students sat perfectly silent for seventeen minutes as biographical tributes of each victim were read aloud. After each biography was read, a rose was placed on each desk. To conclude the ceremony, seventeen chimes echoed throughout the stadium.

The walk was planned by the SBHS Walks With Parkland Committee, comprised of students, teachers
and administrators. That committee sold t-shirts for $5 for students to wear.

"We sold the shirts so we could all look uniform," said Cohen. "We didn’t make a profit on them or anything like that, just to come across as a united front."

Photos and video of the walkout supplied by South Brunswick student Jenna Cohen