Elmsford Students Participate in National School Walkout Day

More than 100 students staged a rally on the steps of Alexander Hamilton Jr./Sr. High School April 20 to protest gun violence in schools and to mark the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado.

The event was organized to coincide with the National School Walkout.

The students, some wearing shirts bearing the hashtag #Enough, gathered under sunny skies but amid unseasonably frigid temperatures. The American flag flew at half-staff in honor of former First Lady Barbara Bush, who had died a day earlier. The throng of students held signs and watched as their peers expressed themselves in speeches, poetry and music.

At 10 a.m., they honored the 17 victims of the Parkland, Florida, shooting with 17 minutes of silence.

Mossiah Smith, who led the rally, thanked the school and the district administration for supporting him and his fellow students in staging the event.

Mossiah said it was time for change and that the issue was not political for him. He and others proposed specific gun safety legislation, as did many who spoke. He also encouraged his fellow students to let their voices be heard.

“Don’t let the conversation stop. Do your own research,” he said. “Be the heroes you want to be and make the change you want.”

Gabriela Pacheco, an 8th grader, spoke in English and in Spanish, asking how many languages were needed for people to understand that gun violence has to end.

“These students went to school to study for the future, a future that was taken away,” she said.

Sarah Corp, Melida Rodriguez-Chavez and Ashley Preston gave a spoken-word performance from the first-person perspective of shooting victims and their loved ones. That was followed by a vocal performance from Tayio Spain, Lauren Williams and Jason Bernard who sang a harmony that drew loud applause from the young crowd.

Lynassa Lugay called the perpetrator of the Parkland shooting a “conductor of chaos.” She called for a change to the law that would result in increasing the age for purchasing firearms.

“My hope is that new gun control laws will be passed nationally, but for now what we are doing is a step in the right direction,” Lynassa said.

Bailey Proctor said the focus of this debate should be on children. She said she was tired of turning on the news and seeing stories of innocent lives lost, even 19 years after Columbine.

“It’s been 19 years to the day since that tragedy and still we are seeking change,” she said.