CH-UH students participate in National Walkout Day

Heights High students speak at their National Walkout Day demonstration.

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Frigid temperatures were no deterrent for more than 1,000 CH-UH City School District students who chose to participate in National Walkout Day on Wednesday, March 14.

High school and middle school students walked outside at 10 a.m., joining the national movement to raise awareness for school safety and the impact of gun violence.

At Cleveland Heights High School, more than 700 students participated in a demonstration on the snow-covered football field. The event was student-led and voluntary. Many of the student organizers spoke at the demonstration to remember the victims of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, and to voice a call to action for stricter gun control.

The League of Women Voters (LWV) set up in the cafeteria to help eligible high school students register to vote during their lunch period. A total of 88 students registered.

At the Delisle Options Center, students held a march around the campus to support students' right to learn in violence-free schools.

At Heights Middle School, more than 200 students walked to the athletic field at the back of the campus where they held their own demonstration, similar to that at Heights High.

Even the CH-UH elementary schools participated in the day. Instead of walking out, elementary school students were encouraged to “walk up” to others:

• Walk up to a student who sits alone at lunch and invite him/her to sit with their group of friends.
• Walk up to a new student, smile, and say “Hi!”
• Walk up to their teachers and thank them.
• Walk up to talk to someone whose appearance may be different from theirs.
• Walk up and talk to someone who has different views and get to know them.
  
  

The “walk ups” in each of the elementary schools focused on the power of kindness and learning how much we have in common with one another.

Canterbury Elementary School took it a step further and held a Kindness Assembly for the whole school, discussing with students how they can change the world.