Trabuco Canyon School Walkout: 17 Minutes To Change The World

TRABUCO CANYON, CA — One month after a school shooting rocked the world in Parkland, Florida leaving 17 people dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Orange County high school and middle school students united for change along with the National School Walkout. Their goal, to push lawmakers to establish "common sense gun control" laws and to remember those who have died in the place where they should have been safest: on school grounds.

Orange County students took it upon themselves to demonstrate government in action Wednesday, exercising their rights as citizens, often with the support of teachers and principals. Students from area high schools and middle schools were encouraged to stay on campus for the 17 minute demonstration at campuses in Los Alamitos, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Newport Beach, Corona Del Mar, Dana Point, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Laguna Beach, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, and across Orange County.

Orange County Sheriff's Department reported that there were no credible threats at any school that was participating in the event.

"We understand tensions are high at our schools with the national school walkouts today," OCSD spokeswoman Carrie Braun said. "OCSD is not aware of any specific, credible school threats. We are partnering with our schools to ensure the safety of all students on campus."

In Mission Viejo, police services came together with schools to ensure that the walkout experience was safe for all.

"All walkouts were peaceful and students remained on campus," Orange County Sheriff's Deputies from Mission Viejo Police Services said. "Thank you students, teachers, and school administrators for keeping this event safe."

In Dana Point, organizer Olivia Drury looked on while supporters arrived to carry signs and gather with one another. Her banner declaring "we will be the generation that says NEVER AGAIN."

The right to peaceful assembly was taken by students and shepherded by the Orange County Sheriff's Department and other police agencies across southern California. From chanting "no more guns" and "enough is enough" to a reading of names of the fallen, to empty desks and pairs of shoes, the memorials had different meanings to different people however the overarching message was clear.

Signs were made. Social media posts and invites were shared. All that was left for area high schoolers and middle schoolers was for their supporters to arrive.

On this Wednesday morning, thousands students took to the quads, the gymnasiums and the open air to stand in solidarity with one another. And they were not alone.

At 10 a.m. on Wednesday hundreds of Dana Hills and Capo Valley High School school's walkout participants gathered behind the baseball field. Wearing orange, carrying orange signs, for 17 minutes, they gathered. Buttons were sold to raise funds for the Parkland survivors, and teenagers spent hours creating signs and t-shirts for the demonstration. These are young adults who are not shy about speaking their minds.

At El Toro High School, hundreds of students chanted for "school safety" and then lofted 17 orange balloons into the sky, in memory of 17 lives cut short in Florida. As student names were read, one student posed the question, "what if one of those names was someone you know?"

Balloons representing the 17 lives lost in Florida. #schoolwalkout #schoolwalkouts #GunContolNow #enough @Emma4Change pic.twitter.com/Pg0aAOWDu3
— Vicky (@vickyfloresx) March 14, 2018

In San Clemente, security stood watch on a roof while students gathered peacefully. San Juan Hills High School set up 17 desks in their upper quad,

Just after 10:17 a.m. clouds parted and the rains stopped over Capo Valley High School. Perhaps it was the hopefulness of youth, not yet jaded by the time it takes to change a process. Or perhaps these students truly will be catalysts for change in the coming years. In November, many seniors will vote for the first time. By 2020, the majority will study issues and cast ballots.

These young adults are future leaders, they demand both justice and action and now they are watching officials to see what the current legislators do next. Thus far, all they have witnesses is inaction on both sides of the gun argument.

Meanwhile, major gun-sales outlets have taken it upon themselves to both limit the firearms being sold, raise the minimum age for gun and rifle purchases and even remove assault rifles from store inventories.

Parkland survivor, Jaclyn Corin, and activist teen spoke on the day, reflecting on all that has happened in the past month since the mass shooting. "It has been one month since our hearts broke and our innocence was stripped away," she tweeted to her 89-thousand followers. Corin called attention to the 17 minutes in commemoration of 17 souls who were lost, and to display dissatisfaction with the current gun legislation.

"This generation is amazing," she wrote of the tweets and videos that were shared across the social sphere. "We are on the right side of history."

Photos courtesy: Margaret Wold-Sackey, Dana Hills High School