Rockbridge County High was one of thousands of schools across the country where students walked out of their classrooms to honor victims of the Parkland massacre yesterday. WMRA's Jessie Knadler filed this report.
Rockbridge County is pretty rural, the kind of place where a decent percentage of teenagers already own their own firearms for hunting. But that didn’t stop about 250 of them from taking part in a nationwide protest of gun violence in schools yesterday.
KATHRYN BRODIE: Today marks the one month anniversary of the shooting which took place on February 14, a day meant for expressions of love. But families instead lost the people they loved.
Eighteen year old Kathryn Brodie, a senior, helped organize the event. Brodie read each name of the seventeen victims.
BRODIE: Alyssa Alhadeff, 14 years old, Scott Beigel, 35…
It was followed by a moment of silence.
[moment of silence]
Fellow organizer, senior Lulu West, then addressed the crowd.
LULU WEST: We’re here today to let Congress know that we want to be safe in school, we want our friends to be safe in school and we want our siblings to be safe in school.
The event served as a reminder that seniors will be casting their first ballots this November.
WEST: Yes, register to vote! Then follow through and actually vote!