Students from D.C., Maryland, Virginia schools rally at U.S. Capitol for gun control

Hermela Mesfin spent her 17th birthday rallying with thousands of other students for stricter gun laws outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

“We thought that those innocent lives that were lost deserve respect. So we’re doing this for them and for our safety,” Hermela said, referring to the victims of last month’s massacre at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

Students around the region and across the country held the National School Walkout to mark one month since the Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 children and adults dead. Students walked out of classrooms at 10 a.m. Wednesday and stayed outside for 17 minutes in honor of those slain.

In the greater Washington area, thousands of students held their moment of silence outside the White House, then marched to the Capitol Building, where they were met by several members of Congress.

Hermela, who had traveled from Potomac, Maryland, said she and her friends likely would be marked with an “unexcused absence” for leaving Winston Churchill High School. She said it was worth it for the opportunity to hear Sen. Bernard Sanders, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer or House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

“It’s for a good cause. We have to do it,” the high schooler said.

Most students at the Capitol rally said their teachers were supportive of the walkout — with a few exceptions.

“We had one teacher that just doesn’t believe that walkouts are the best way to spend time,” said Lew Wedderien, a 15-year-old freshman at Richmond Montgomery High School in Rockville. “But I say, ’We can’t vote yet. How else are we going to get our voices out in a way that matters?’”

Schools around the D.C. region had issued varying policies for the walkout, with some offering on-campus areas for students to gather and others threatening disciplinary action for those who leave campus, citing safety concerns.

“We had a walkout at our school that was sponsored by our school,” said Dajah Lockett, a 16-year-old from Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School in Rockville at the Capitol rally.

Both Dajah and fellow Wootton student Farah Patmah said they likely would receive an unexcused absence for leaving Wootton after the school-sponsored walkout.

“When my life is on the line, that’s way more important than a test I might miss or a grade I might not be getting today,” Dajah said. “These tests and grades won’t matter down the road if we don’t make it to graduation.”

“This is going to matter down the road. This is history,” added Farah, 17.

Many universities and colleges had said they would not hold walkout-related disciplinary actions against future applicants.

At Woodrow Wilson High School in Northwest, administrators required students to hold a 17-minute ceremony inside Wednesday morning. Before the indoors walkout started, a Metropolitan Polictruancy van parked outside the school’s front doors.

“Truancy officers respond to schools as they are requested,” a police spokesperson told The Washington Times in an email.

Woodrow Wilson High did not respond to requests for comment. The D.C. Public Schools declined to comment.

High schoolers mostly organized the National School Walkout — with help from college students.

“This is the first time I’ve seen anything like this happen,” said Gregory Pratt, a 21-year-old American University political science major. “We’ve never connected or found ways to connect.”

Mr. Pratt said he began volunteering for the advocacy group Pride Fund to End Gun Violence in the aftermath of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, in which 50 people were gunned down. The response to the Parkland shooting was unlike any other he’s seen, he said.

“The timeframe when a mass shooting is relevant is about two weeks. Then the media drops off,” Mr. Pratt said. “But as a whole, the students in this movement have let it continue.”

“We were pretty determined to not let that happen this time, so the students settled on a walk,” said Madison Thomas, a 20-year old Georgetown University student who coordinated with high schoolers through the Youth EMPOWER arm of the Women’s March. “If adults haven’t taken action … why are waiting for them to do something about it when we can stand up?”

On March 24, the survivors of the Parkland shooting will lead an anti-gun-violence protest called “The March For Our Lives” on the National Mall. Celebrities like Oprah and George Clooney have donated more than $2 million dollars to help the Florida high schoolers organize the march, which has a permit to host up to 500,000 people, The Washington Post reported.