'It's Been A Long Time Coming': Student Walkout 2018

HILLSBORO, OR — Just before 10 a.m. Wednesday, Hillsboro High School students, faculty, and staff began trickling out of their classrooms and offices toward Hilhi's central outdoor common area, colloquially referred to as "The Pit."

From a small speaker set in front of where the students would gather Sam Cooke's Civil Rights Movement-inspired ballad from 1963 played softly:

It's been a long, a long time comin'
but I know a change gon' come, oh yes it will.

One month exactly from the day a 19-year-old former student entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and opened fire indiscriminately on both students and staff, students in schools and universities across the nation stepped out of their daily schedules to show both their peers and their local, state and federal legislators their solidarity with the students of Parkland and their resolve toward better, smarter gun control.

Prior to murdering 17 people and injuring 17 others Feb. 14, accused shooter Nikolas Cruz had been expelled from Stoneman Douglas High School for disciplinary reasons, Hilhi senior Citlalli Nuñez told the gathering of students — estimated at somewhere between 200 and 250 kids.

Nuñez, 18, had spent the past two weeks researching and organizing this moment on behalf of Hillsboro High School, and with the blessing of Hilhi's administration — though, to be clear, administrative staff neither encouraged nor discouraged the student movement. They simply allowed and observed.

And, just as Hilhi Principal Lou Bailey expected, the students present stood silent, attentive and engaged. Some held up signs, and some held each other.

"Our generation has grown up in a state where we are to go through lockdown drills in case of an intruder entering the school campus at any point in time. Students in the United States fear school shootings more than they fear a natural disaster," Nuñez said through a megaphone. "We shouldn’t have to feel dread when the intercom kicks on unexpectedly. We are walking out because practicing how to barricade doors and hide under desks does not create a supportive learning environment. We are walking out because enough is enough."

A lack of mental health support, ineffective gun control, and inadequate security and resources available to underfunded schools all contribute to the mass school shooting issue, Nuñez explained, noting the 41 mass school shootings — and roughly 210 school shootings overall — that have occurred since the Columbine massacre April 20, 1999.

The U.S. has more school shootings than anywhere else in the world, she said.

Surrounding Nuñez on her platform were sheets of paper taped to the walls, each adorned with a city name where a mass shooting has taken place and the number of deaths associated with those incidents. The walls had space enough for barely a fraction of the shooting incidents to which she had referred.

"Before 2011, a public mass shooting happened almost every six months on average; since then, we can expect a mass shooting every two months apart on average," Nuñez continued. "Students and staff have the right to learn and teach in an environment free from fear of being gunned down in their classrooms or on their way home from school. Parents have the right to send their kids to school in the mornings and see them home alive at the end of the day. We all have the right to live free from fear and violence in our community."

Hilhi Activities Director Sarah Cole, along with roughly a dozen other Hillsboro High School teachers and administrative officials, stood along the outskirts of the gathering, listening.

"Any time we can have civics in action is a good day," Cole told Patch afterward. "We often don't give kids enough appreciation for the power they wield. Upcoming elections are going to be changed by this."

Illustrating Cole's point, across the nation thousands upon thousands of students stepped outside their classrooms Wednesday and made comments just like Nuñez did. They want to come to school and worry about their tests, they said, not whether they'll survive the day; and the power they all held as orators before their peers wasn't lost on anyone watching.

Described by Bailey as quiet yet motivated and aspirational, Nuñez previously spoke before Oregon state legislators and even Gov. Kate Brown herself when she participated in lobbying for the Motor Voter Bill, which streamlined and combined the process of obtaining or renewing an Oregon driver's license and registering to vote. The bill took effect Jan. 1, 2016.

From her platform Wednesday, Nuñez called on her fellow students to get involved in the gun control debate — if you're 18, register to vote, she said; if you're not, write your local legislator.

"I know students at this school who shouldn’t be able to purchase a firearm … some of us don’t even do our chores when we’re told to," she said. "If we aren’t legally able to purchase alcohol, tobacco, e-cigarettes, or marijuana, we shouldn’t be legally able to purchase a gun.

"I don’t ask that firearms be banned because as an American citizen you are given the right to own a firearm for the protection of yourself," Nuñez clarified. "I am simply asking that our current regulations be fixed so that they apply to the 21st century instead of the 18th century."

"You don't underestimate students who are passionate about something. If they believe in something — if there's an issue that's important to them — they're going to step up and lead in an appropriate manner," Hillsboro School District Superintendent Mike Scott said. "(Citlalli) even worked in at the end of her speech, 'at 10:17 a.m., go back to class.' I was just impressed at her attentiveness to maintaining calm."

Nuñez was also impressed not only with the turnout but with the seriousness her peers showed.

"I was actually surprised," she said. "They responded very positively and wanted to engage. It made me very proud."

Nuñez, as a senior, is part of a generation of American students who have all grown up in the post-Columbine academic world. These kids have never known a time when school shootings weren't a common occurrence, and they've been forced to watch helplessly as each shooting becomes deadlier.

"What I'm afraid of is they don't know it any other way," Scott said. "They've always had these (mass shooter) drills. I never had these drills. I don't think we even did earthquake drills. And so, this is become a part of their school reality — unfortunately."

Now, it appears — thanks mostly perhaps to Parkland, Florida, students who bravely stood up and began speaking out about the superfluous dangers they face daily — students across the nation are speaking out for themselves after decades of political inaction by the adults they looked to for protection.

"It's really a shame," he continued. "I never thought, when I was getting into education, we'd be in a time where students were a target. And now here we are. So, knowing that, we need to do everything we can to prepare for those events; that's why we do the drills, that's why we pass bonds that have a lot of money focused on safety improvements, and that's why we talk about the importance of students speaking up when they know of an issue."

Positive relationships between students and staff contribute a great deal to the level of effective communication maintained at Hilhi, Scott explained, noting a recent incident where students passing rumors through social media nearly led to a fear frenzy among the Hilhi community before administrative officials were able to investigate and put the rumor to rest, calming both the student body and all the parents they alarmed.

"We will chase down every rumor," Bailey said. "Culturally, with what's going on across the nation, we're not in the mindset to simply go, 'nah, that's not true.' We have to chase it down; we have to prove it's not accurate."

"We know that when parents send their kids to school, the number one thing that's important to them is their student's safety," Scott said. "We take that responsibility very seriously … we can't afford to gamble."

Images by Travis Loose/Patch