WATCH: Broomfield High Students Participate In National Walkout

BROOMFIELD, CO -- Students and staff from Broomfield High School participated in the National School Walkout Mar. 14 to honor the victims of February's Parkland, Florida school massacre and ask for policies to strengthen gun laws in Colorado and the United States.

Broomfield students marched for an hour from the school to the City/County Municipal building, along with parents, grandparents, younger siblings and supporting community members.

Broomfield High School junior and organizer Riley Judd marched in the Denver Women's March in January. After the school massacre at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last month, she knew where to look for help to set up a school walkout for March 14. She reached out to women's march organizer Cheetah McClellan and got right to work.

Judd wanted the community to be able to participate without stepping on the school grounds. The walkout will last from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., but students can choose to return to school at any time, Judd said.

Students are asked to wear orange, which is "the color of the movement" Judd said. Broomfield students left campus and marched to the Broomfield City and County Building at 7 Descombes Dr. After a rally, students will return to school where they can choose to go back to class or sit outside the school and "write letters to Congress."

Judd, who founded the Young Democrats club at the high school, says she loves to be involved in local organizations, such as working as a volunteer at the Children's Hospital for mental health advocacy, she said.
Focusing on gun laws that many believe made school shootings possible, the Broomfield HS organizers say they want to promote state policies that can make gun laws stronger to help protect students from school gun massacres. "We're focused on what steps the state can take," she said, including a ban on assault rifles, raising the minimum purchase age from 18 to 21 and a bump stock ban. The state already outlawed high-capacity magazines. The march organizers also want to promote national policies for stricter access to guns, Judd said.
But Judd said the Broomfield students also want more security in the school district. "We'd like an SRO officer in every school, and a mental health professional in every school," Judd said.

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